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Capitalization was fixed from What An Idiot.Cobrakai to WhatAnIdiot.Cobra Kai. Null edit to update index.
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Cut for being NRLEP


* ''WhatAnIdiot/CutthroatKitchen''
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* ''WhatAnIdiot/AreYouSmarterThanAFifthGrader''
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RL Cleanup and ATT said to cut as Game Show examples violate WAI being NoRealLife.Too Controversial (and most violate the required You'd Expect/Instead format).


[[AC:By genre]]



* WhatAnIdiot/GameShows
[[/index]]

[[AC:By show]]

[[index]]
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* ''WhatAnIdiot/MotherlandFortSalem''
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* ''WhatAnIdiot/BreakingBad''

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* ''WhatAnIdiot/BreakingBad''''WhatAnIdiot/BreakingBad'' (includes ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' and ''Film/ElCamino'')
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* ''WhatAnIdiot/OneThousandWaysToDie''
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* ''WhatAnIdiot/{{Scrubs}}''
* ''WhatAnIdiot/SesameStreet''
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The audience watching at home can see it coming...and yet, for some reason, the characters in the show can't, and proceed to do that "dumb thing" anyway. [[WhatAnIdiot Way to go, geniuses]].

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The audience watching at home can see it coming...and yet, for some reason, the characters in the show can't, and proceed to do that "dumb thing" anyway. [[WhatAnIdiot [[DarthWiki/WhatAnIdiot Way to go, geniuses]].
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* ''WhatAnIdiot/KitchenNightmares''
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* ''WhatAnIdiot/CutthroatKitchen''
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* ''WhatAnIdiot/MalcolmInTheMiddle''
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* ''WhatAnIdiot/ThePriceIsRight''



* ''WhatAnIdiot/WheelOfFortune''
* ''WhatAnIdiot/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire''
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* ''WhatAnIdiot/{{Jeopardy}}''



* ''WhatAnIdiot/LegendsOfTheHiddenTemple''



* ''WhatAnIdiot/MatchGame''



* ''WhatAnIdiot/TheNewlywedGame''
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* ''WhatAnIdiot/FamilyFeud''
* ''WhatAnIdiot/FamilyFortunes''
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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV S-Z]]
* ''Series/VeronicaMars'':
** The murderer of Lilly Kane has been found and is in jail awaiting justice.\\
'''You'd expect''': Logan Echolls, who was in love with Lilly and hates the murderer, to do everything he can to see the murderer behind bars.\\
'''Instead''': In an extraordinarily misguided act of "loyalty" to his dead girlfriend, Logan destroys the evidence and the murderer goes free.
** Veronica is neck and neck with another student for having the highest GPA in her class, which will earn her the Kane Scholarship, allowing her to attend Stanford on the Kane family's dime.\\
'''You'd expect''': She'd do her best to earn the scholarship, and only sacrifice it if something truly important got in her way.\\
'''Instead''': She deliberately walks out on a test, thereby forfeiting the scholarship, in order to see the verdict in Lilly's murder trial. Just to hear the verdict read, mind you -- there was no way she could affect the outcome, and the verdict would be all over the news seconds later. She decided it was worth giving up her dream of going to Stanford just to see the look in the murderer's eyes when he was convicted ... oh, except that, due to her boyfriend's idiocy, he got acquitted.
* ''Series/{{Victorious}}'':
** Generally, Trina is seen as a GiftedlyBad SmallNameBigEgo performer, HatedByAll, and a {{Jerkass}} to boot, with no one wanting to spend time with her. [[spoiler:In fact, Sikowitz reveals the only reason she was let in was that he was the only teacher judging her audition and he was hopped up on fermented coconut juice]]. With that said, she's revealed to be excellent at martial arts and is physically coordinated.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Considering the amount of naturally talented students that struggle with the curriculum, that a teacher would have nudged Trina towards channeling her martial arts into dancing or stuntwork. It's a miracle that she isn't kicked out for her lack of pipes, until [[spoiler:Helen becomes the new principal and bluntly says Trina is expelled after seeing her terrible audition]]. Also, you'd think her classmates would be more BrutallyHonest, including her own sister.\\
'''Instead''': Jade is the only one who outwardly says that Trina has no talent. Everyone else humors her because she bullies her way into making people watch her stuff and praise it. Tori has the excuse that she has to live with Trina, but no one else does.\\
'''The Result''': Trina is HerOwnWorstEnemy. She blows a recording opportunity when lying that she composed and recorded the song that Tori performed as a birthweek gift. People laugh at her attempts to put on a solo show, and musical professionals ignore her attempts to brown-nose. It gets to the point that when Trina's stunt is sabotaged, EveryoneIsASuspect, including Tori.
** "The Birthweek Song": Tori is stymied while trying to find a birthweek gift for her older sister. Jade snarkily suggests getting Trina "talent," while Andre helps her write a song. Tori performs it live, complete with backup dancers. Trina loves the song, but doesn't realize it was her present because it didn't cost anything.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Tori would either chew out Trina for expecting every gift to cost monetary value with her parents' encouragement, or take Trina up to their room before berating her for being an UngratefulBastard.\\
'''Instead''': She shoes her parents, Andre, and the backup dancers outside with an umbrella in the pouring rain.\\
'''The Result''': Everyone else gets soaked and Trina doesn't learn to be grateful.
** Robbie has become an unofficial tech guy for his grandmother's new Internet. He hates it and brings Cat along for emotional support. When his grandmother asks, Robbie assures her that Cat is just a friend and they're not dating.\\
'''You'd Expect''': His grandmother to take this at face value and just stick with berating Cat for her hair color. Robbie at this point has no reason to lie to her.\\
'''Instead''': At her next tech emergency, she invites a shy girl named Brenda to talk to Robbie before he can handle the problem and fixes chicken for them.\\
'''The Result'''': Robbie gets fed up, with the matchmaking being TheLastStraw. He destroys her Internet, announces that it's been cancelled, and runs off with Cat in tow before his grandmother can stop them.
* "Jade Dumps Beck": The B plot is that Trina makes Robbie see an early preview of her one-woman show so he can review it for the school paper. He takes notes but is dismayed at how terrible it is. Much as he'd like to trash Trina, she trashes him several times when he tries to politely stall and say that in good conscience he can't review her show because he doesn't want to hurt a friend, especially one that will shove his face into boiling-hot soup and damage his clothes using a locker.\\
'''You'd Expect''': After Trina shoves his face into some soup he's eating for lunch, that Robbie would call the teacher for help, or tell the guidance counselor that Trina is bodily threatening him. The teachers could tell Trina to suck it up: either she gets a bad review, or none at all. She's going to face a lot of critics in her life, and some will not be intimidated.\\
'''Instead''': The adults do nothing and Robbie doesn't think to summon them for help, forcing Robbie to take Andre's advice.\\
'''The Result''': Trina spends the entire week bullying Robbie, and bodily threatening him when on Andre's advice he says that the story is great as a comedy.\\
'''Fortunately''': Due to everyone laughing at her show, Trina considers the solo act a success.
** "Tori The Zombie": Tori agrees to be Cat's zombie model so the latter won't fail her makeup class. Trina finds out that Cat used superglue which is ''not'' supposed to go on human skin and she needs to perform in a play the next day. When Tori heads to rehearsal as her sister and Cat get the solvent, Jade suggests that she should perform as Tori's understudy.\\
'''You'd Expect''': The director Sikowitz would go with this.\\
'''Instead''': Sikowitz and Tori insist she does the play with the zombie face.\\
'''Fortunately''': The play's writer praises them for such a creative interpretation of her play.
** In "Survival of the Hottest", the gang goes to Venice Beach on the hottest day of the year, and Cat has to go to the bathroom upon arrival.\\
'''You'd expect''': Someone else to go with Cat to the bathroom to at least watch her.\\
'''Instead''': She goes alone.\\
'''You'd then expect''': Cat to bring her cell phone with her.\\
'''Instead''': She doesn't, and gets no response when Tori tried to call her.\\
'''Then:''' After Cat leaves the bathroom, she meets a cute boy who asks her to hang with him.\\
'''You'd expect:''' Cat to politely refuse as she needs to check on the others.\\
'''Instead:''' She happily agrees and spends all her time with the boy and his friends, kicking off the plot of the episode.
** "Freak The Freak Out": Trina has had her wisdom teeth taken out. Her parents leave for a trip and put Tori in charge of caring for Trina, who apparently had a bad experience with the surgery. She's moaning in pain constantly and complaining with garbled speech.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Trina to just stand still for anyone taking care of her.\\
'''Instead''': She attacks anyone who tries to give her medicine or rinse out her gums.\\
'''The Result''': Tori resorts to tying her up and duct-taping her mouth, and every subsequent babysitter leaves as soon as they can.
** In "Tori Gets Stuck", Tori has to donate a second pint of blood for Robbie after Jade stole the first one she donated (long story). Eventually her blood has been removed and put in a bag. Robbie enters the room, pleased to see her having gone out of her way for him again.\\
'''You'd expect:''' That Tori would hold on to the bag of blood to make sure nothing would happen to it. Considering she already had to donate one pint of blood, she would have to be extra careful with this one.\\
'''Instead:''' Tori holds it up, and Robbie takes it from her. He imagines that he's holding "liquid Tori" in his hands, and then holds it up to the light in the room, but drops it, [[NauseaFuel which splatters it all over the two of them.]] Tori is then forced to give up a THIRD pint of blood, which is pretty dangerous. And by the end of the episode, she feels drowsy and faint when she tries to do her part in the school play.
** Beck, one of the most popular guys in school, is dating Jade, an AlphaBitch and bully. Quite a few people, including Tori, ask WhatDoesHeSeeInHer as Jade takes Beck for granted, gets violent if there's a hint that another girl likes him, and doesn't even show him basic consideration. It comes to a head when Beck and Jade have a serious fight while participating in a romantic quiz game show for Sinjin's project, and Beck openly states he's not happy with the state of their relationship. They get voted Worst Couple, and Beck is concerned and angry because the other two couples weren't even couples.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Jade to seriously consider Beck's concerns. The last time they broke up, he handled it quite well while dating someone else and she became a sobbing wreck. Beck this time is willing to talk to her and figure out where they went wrong.\\
'''Instead''': Jade tries to dismiss Beck's desire to talk, and threatens to break up with him by giving him an ultimatum.\\
'''The Result''': Beck breaks up with Jade due to the ultimatum, starts dating again, and only gets back together after a few months because he realizes that he likes that they disagree. Jade has a hard time finding a rebound date because everyone is scared of her.
** "Wok Star":
*** When the school refuses to put on Jade's disturbing play about a girl drowning in a well, Tori accidentally gets Jade a sponsor, Wing Lee who owns a local restaurant, OnOneCondition: Jade has to incorporate Ms. Lee's "talentless and irritating" teenage daughter in the play. Jade blames Tori for this turn of events, even though as the other kids point out, Jade wouldn't be ''performing'' her play if not for Tori. She's especially worried that her dad is coming for one performance and he's not supportive of her career in the arts.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Tori would let Jade deal with it. The girl's a {{Jerkass}} even on her good days, and she's being an UngratefulBastard who doesn't even consider Tori a friend.\\
'''Instead''': While playing UNO with their friend group, Tori and the others come up with a ZanyScheme to keep Ms. Lee from attending a show where her daughter Daisy, who is a NiceGirl, will not make an appearance that Jade's father can watch and appreciate. HilarityEnsues.
*** Meanwhile as part of this ZanyScheme, Daisy is waiting for her cue.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Jade and Tori would have told Daisy for this one performance they're humoring Jade's ControlFreak of a dad and that Daisy would steal the show (which technically isn't a lie) and have her wait backstage.\\
'''Instead''': They leave Daisy dangling on her wire and harness for the part Ms. Lee wrote into the play. As Ms. Lee arrives too late to see the show, she hears Daisy calling out that she's ready.\\
'''The Result''': When Ms. Lee finds out, she [[WhatTheHellHero tells off Tori]] for letting her daughter "dangle" and promises revenge in the near future. She eventually gets it when she opens up a sushi place and makes Tori and Robbie work off an expensive sushi meal they can't pay for when Robbie forgets his wallet.
** "Andre's Horrible Girl": As the earthquake is striking Los Angeles, most everyone in Nozu is taking cover for safety, except Hope Quincy, who we see more concerned for her birthday presents.\\
'''You'd expect:''' That Hope would take cover beneath the hallway, or do SOMETHING other than stand below an arch.\\
'''Instead:''' She doesn't even see that, and the Japanese symbol falls off the wall and knocks her out, leaving her with a concussion. Ouch.
** In "The Wood" Jade gets her dad's boss to lend them a junkyard car to wreck for their reality show.\\
'''You'd expect:''' The boss to give them the color, model, location, and license plate number of the car,\\
'''Instead:''' He just tells them which parking lot it's in and Jade and Tori end up destroying Festus' car which could easily be mistaken for a junker car. This results in Lane kicking the producers off the campus and the show gets moved to another school.
** "The Breakfast Bunch": Vice Principal Dickers insists Tori and the gang utter not one more word. Jade utters, "Word," prompting Dickers to give her more Saturday detentions, one after the other, until she ends up with three more.\\
'''You'd expect:''' Tori to keep silent and leave Jade alone.\\
'''Instead:''' She tries sticking up for Jade.\\
'''The result:''' Dickers now gives more Saturday detentions to Tori, whether she wants it or not; when this is all over, she has ''five more.''
* In ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' 's second-season episode "Chupacabra", Daryl Dixon comes stumbling out of the forest badly injured and limping after his unsuccessful attempt to find Sophia. Andrea notices something in the distance and alerts Rick and the rest of the group, and Rick tells her to wait while he deals with what he thinks is a walker. Andrea is itching to prove herself with a gun, however, and takes aim at the walker in the distance (over Dale's calls to put her weapon down).\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That she would do what everyone's already told her. Andrea has no proficiency with a rifle, there's sunlight glaring down the scope, she can't see her target clearly, and there are already four men who are standing directly in front of her target (therefore putting them in danger if she misses) and aren't doing anything to put it down.\\
'''Instead:''' She takes the shot anyway, almost kills Daryl (she grazes him in the side of the head) and gets yelled at by Rick from a distance.
** The first episode of season 2 features the group hiding amongst a big car pile-up as a large horde of zombies walks by. Sophia is discovered and flees to the woods, chased by two eerily quick walkers, and Rick gives chase to help her. Catching up to her, he finds a safe hiding spot for her to stay in while he handles the zombies.\\
'''You'd expect:''' That Rick tell Sophia to stay safely hidden while he handles the walkers and he comes back for her. You'd expect also he try to kill the zombies right where he was. Or run back towards the road where the group could safely dispose of them now that the horde had passed by. Really, a number of options were available.\\
'''Instead''': Rick points in some direction and tells Sophia to run back to the group while he drives the zombies away to kill them. While he's off killing the zombies, Sophia follows his instructions. This results in her getting lost, dying and being zombified offscreen, all because Rick couldn't be bothered to think straight for two seconds.
** Late in season 5, the group has found the town of Alexandria and is getting acclimated to their new surroundings. Aiden, the man in charge of scouting runs for the town, is asked to take several of Rick's group out and "show them the ropes", not knowing what Rick and the others have fought over the last two years.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That since he doesn't know these people too well (and got a member of his last scouting group killed for being reckless), he'd talk to the group and find out who among them has scouting skills, tell them about the dangers of the job and (if they have experience) defer to their authority.\\
'''Instead:''' Aiden starts by bragging about his military training, then elects to bring Noah (a new member of Rick's group who ''can't run'') as part of the scouting party. He tnen reveals to Glenn, Tara and Noah that he's strung up a walker for target practice and nearly gets killed (when the walker escapes) before they intervene and rescue him. Then, LaserGuidedKarma hits hard when he attempts to insult Glenn and gets socked in the face and reprimanded by his mother (the woman in charge of Alexandria), who even ''thanks'' Rick for getting his group to beat up her son. It's a wonder the Alexandria residents were surviving before Rick and the others came along.
* In the season premeire of ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'', [[spoiler: H.G. Wells]] asks [=MacPherson=] about the crystal necklace around his neck.\\
'''You'd Expect''': He'd tell [[spoiler: her]] it was a present-day fashion trend. After all, [[spoiler: she'd]] been bronzed for roughly a century and had no way of know "what's hip" today.\\
'''Instead''': He tells [[spoiler: her]] what the necklace is for and pays the price later. For God's sake, James, [[TheChessmaster you're supposed to be WAY SMARTER THAN THAT!]]
* ''Series/TheWestWing:'' In the episode "The State Dinner", Toby and Sam are tasked with writing a toast to the visiting Indonesian President for a state dinner in his honour. Toby wants to include strong, confrontational language denouncing Indonesia's history of human rights abuses -- however, he also is meeting with an Indonesian official after the toast to try and persuade him to help release Toby's friend, a French activist being held in an Indonesian jail for organising anti-government protests.\\
'''You'd Expect''': That Toby would err on the side of diplomacy, decide to not risk insulting the person he needs to help his friend and decide not to include the confrontational language, or at least follow Sam's suggestion of tempering it with more diplomatic language to blunt the potential insult.\\
'''Instead:''' Toby insists that the confrontational language is included in full, with no moderation at all. True enough, the Indonesian official is offended by the confrontational toast and the perceived insult to his President, knows exactly who wrote it, and refuses to help Toby out. Toby's friend is presumably left to rot in jail.
* ''Series/WhiteCollar'': In the episode "Wanted," Peter, Diana, and Clinton are searching for Neal's whereabouts. Using audio evidence from a recorded phone call, they use process of elimination and narrow Neal's location down to Cape Verde. They do this off the books because an FBI agent named Collins is also after Neal (on [[DirtyCop Agent Kramer's]] orders), and is out for blood.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Peter and everyone to be discreet. They'd keep their investigation as bare bones as possible, and not leave any notes that could tip Collins off in case he decides to execute a search warrant on any of their houses. Remember, they're trying to ''help'' Neal.\\
'''Instead:''' Peter puts a big red circle around Cape Verde on a map, and leaves the map at his house. Collins executes a search warrant. Collins finds the map, sees the hard-to-miss circle around Cape Verde, and goes after Neal with the full intention of killing him.
** ''Series/WimziesHouse'': In one episode, the kids play Opposite Day. Grandma Yaya helps them with it, explaining the idea is to do the opposite of what you normally would. Loulou gets confused, naturally with "no" means "yes" and having dessert before lunch.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Grandma would establish some ground rules: let Wimzie's parents Rousso and Graziella know that it's Opposite Day. Also if the adults have a serious question, it's okay to answer normally. Taking the game too far can lead to some PoorCommunicationKills.\\
'''Instead''': She doesn't and only establishes it after the fact.\\
'''The Result''': They find Rousso's calculator, which he needs for work. When Rousso comes to the kids asking if they've seen the calculator, they naturally say "NO!" in unison, not knowing that he was LockedOutofTheLoop. Wimzie realizes they took the game too far when she hears her dad is going to the store to buy another calculator, though fortunately he figures it out ahead of time.
* ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'':
** While they're attending [=WizTech=], Alex finds out that teacher Evilini is going to use a sports event to drain Justin of his magic since the winner goes to Volcano Land, where wizards can be drained. Justin at first thinks she's CryingWolf because she's spent most of their time playing pranks on him, but she proves it by bringing a Volcano Land employee to school. Alex tells Justin he needs to lose the Twelve Ball tournament.\\
'''You'd Expect''': That if Justin realized his teacher was evil, that he shouldn't confront her. He can quietly forfeit the match, or lose on purpose without telling anyone.\\
'''Instead''': He goes to confront Evilini about how he knows her scheme and that he's planning to quit the tournament.\\
'''Predictably''': Evilini casts a spell on Justin forcing him to stay in the tournament and play to win. Justin does so, with a look of happy terror.
** Meanwhile for Evilini, only Alex knew about her plan. Thus, Alex ratted her out, despite saying she was [[BlatantLies supportive of the plan]].\\
'''You'd Expect''': She would curse Alex as well since Alex is a WildCard.\\
'''Instead''': She sits back and watches smugly as Justin under magic is forced to win the Twelve Ball tournament and go to Volcano Land.\\
'''The Result''': Alex goes CorneredRattlesnake, remembers [[ChekhovsGun the truth-telling spell that Professor Crumb used on her]], and casts it on Evilini. Evilini starts EvilGloating aloud, goes OhCrap when everyone hears her, and gets arrested.
* ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati'': An early episode has Johnny announce a contest the station is running, but he mistakenly announces the total prize money for the year as the weekly prize.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Johnny to admit his mistake on the air and report the correct prize amount.\\
'''Instead:''' They set up the contest so that no one could possibly win. Inexplicably, someone wins.\\
'''Then:''' Someone shows up to claim the prize.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' The station staff to confirm his identity before paying up.\\
'''Instead:''' They confirm the identity of the ''second'' person to show up claiming to be the winner. You guessed it. The first person was a fake.
* ''Series/WolfHall''
** George Boleyn detests Thomas Cromwell, so he and his father attempt to influence Henry against him. It works, and after a church service Herny loudly and publicly screams into Cromwell's face. Cromwell only just manages to withdraw without Henry ordering his death, and he's pretty shaken up afterwards.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' George to keep his mouth shut.\\
'''Instead:''' He tracks down Cromwell to gloat and remind him of "his place," thus tipping him off as to who put the thought in Henry's mind. George then fails to understand what Cromwell means by saying "I will profit from this lesson" and walks off satisfied. His father also gloats at the council meeting the next day, not reading the signs that Henry is embarrassed over the incident and probably further convincing him to make amends.
** Anne and Henry have fallen out in a big way, and her lutenist Mark Smeaton is called to Cromwell's house after dark to be interviewed about it.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Mark to be ''extremely careful'' with everything he says and not trust Cromwell's story about wanting to reconcile Anne and Henry, especially since she's suspected of infidelity and as Mark himself says, Cromwell has been hanging around with her enemies. It wouldn't have helped, mind. But...\\
'''Instead:''' When Cromwell asks why the queen is unhappy, Mark says it's because she's in love. With himself.\\
'''Afterwards:''' When Mark tries to take it back, Cromwell points out that they hadn't even started ''intimidating'' him yet; he just blurt it out all on his own.
** George Boleyn stands trial, accused of treason and incest with Anne. Cromwell hands him a bit of paper and says ''[[ReversePsychology not]]'' to read it aloud, only to answer if he recognizes the words on it.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Being on trial for his life, for him to read what the words are and answer no.\\
'''Instead:''' He reads it [[SchmuckBait and then speaks the words out loud]]: insults against Henry's manhood. Then he realizes the court is not laughing ''with'' him and hastily says that they aren't his words and he doesn't own them. Cromwell's reply? "You do now."[[note]]As with Mark, this would not have actually helped--Cromwell had more up his sleeve. But George certainly made it easy for him.[[/note]]
* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess''
** Mavican is an up-and-coming warlord who dreams of killing Xena and gaining Ares' favor. Ares gifts her with a challenge in a pocket dimension where Xena appears in the day and Gabrielle appears at night and whoever survives gets out. Every time Xena tries to kill her, Mavican disappears. It appears that only Gabrielle is capable of killing her, even with traps set up by Xena before sunset. And she's capable of killing either person she wants. In the climax, Xena traps them both in a cave and threatens to take them both down into a pit below while hanging onto some vines.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That Mavican laughs in her face and lets go. A fall from that height will likely kill her, and set her back to a safe location. The worst case scenario is that Xena survives the fall and Mavican will have to wait until Xena/Gabrielle starves to death.\\
'''Instead:''' She caves and calls for Ares to open a portal out of the scenario. Unimpressed with her cowardice, Ares only allows Xena out, leaving Mavican trapped in the cave for the rest of her life.
** Kun's army is trying to prevent K'ao Hsin and her new friends from destroying their black powder supplies. While Gabrielle and Joxer are battling their forces, they see that Xena and K'ao Hsin are fighting their boss Pao Ssu in their black powder camp.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That Kun will do everything in his power to make sure '''NOT''' to fire any explosives in that camp.\\
'''Instead:''' They fire missle after missle at Xena and K'ao Hsin in the hopes of hitting them. Not only do they miss every shot, they also end up hitting Pao Hsu, destroying their only supply and killing the only person willing to give them the information on how to make the powder.
** In 'Eternal Bonds' The Greek Gods' personal armies has Xena, Gabrielle and a dying Joxer cornered in an open field. Among them are the legions of Artemis with their trademark arrows.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That the armies would surround the trio, allowing Artemis' troops to shoot arrows from afar. Xena can catch a few, but there's only so many she can stop at once. Gabrielle has only shown to catch an arrow once and that was out of pure instinct.\\
'''In Addition:''' When Xena hangs the baby Eve by rope, that every available archer would shoot at the baby, their intended target.\\
'''Instead:''' MookChivalry rears its ugly head as every soldier lines up to get slaughtered by the duo of Xena and Gabrielle. Not one archer boths to shoot either Xena, Gabrielle or the dying Joxer. Only once did an archer decide to try and shoot the hanging Eve, which was split by Xena and redirected towards the other two leaders. By far the worst display of army tactics in the show's history.
** Athena has Xena and Gabrielle under siege in Xena's hometown of Amphipolis by some of the finest warriors in the ancient world. After some days under siege, Xena walks out of town holding a cloth she claims holds the baby Eve. She lays it down for Athena to kill the child.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That the goddess of wisdom would check the cloth to make sure that Eve is actually wrapped around it. Xena is well known for trickery and misdirection so such a ploy is expected.\\
'''You'd Also Expect:''' That Athena wouldn't pull back her forces until she's at least sure that the child is indeed Eve.\\
'''Instead:''' She believes Xena's word and brings back her forces, readying the killing blow.\\
'''The Result''': Ares comes in for the save due to a deal made with Xena and fights Athena while Gabrielle leads a counter attack on the idle forces, decimating Athena's army and killing her champion in the process. Xena later reveals that the 'baby' is actually a doll. Fooling Ares is par the course but ''Athena''?
** Also in the fifth season, the Fates state that Xena's death will mark the beginning of the end for the Olympian Gods, mostly at the hand of her then-unborn daughter.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Them to do everything in their power to keep Xena alive and well for as long as possible (such as giving her some Ambrosia).\\
'''Instead:''' They go out of their way to hunt her down and try to kill her, Gabriel, and Joxer multiple times. Surprisingly, even Apollo, the god of ''wisdom'', goes along with this plan.
** You are a Greek God and want to kill her Xena's daughter Eve. Xena also recently gained the ability to kill gods thanks to Eli.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That the gods use their well-established ability to remain unseen by any mortal and shank Eve in her sleep. Or simply teleport behind her and do the same thing.\\
'''Instead:''' They try to kill her with more conventional ways such as energy blasts and their weapons while fighting while facing her, allowing Xena opportunities to kill them.
** In the season 6 episode "When Fates Collide", Caesar tampers with the Looms of Fate and creates a world where Xena is his empress and wife and they rule Rome together. But things fall apart when Xena finds out about her past life thanks to Alti. Later, Alti does the same to Gabrielle in an attempt to kill her under Caesar's orders. Gabrielle survives the attack, but both she and Xena have been captured. Caesar orders for Xena to be cruxified the next day.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That at least Alti suggests that Gabrielle should also be cruxified. Alti should at least know that Gabrielle knows about the tampering and can undo everything. Caesar likely wouldn't mind for the two to be executed in a similar way to the previous reality and he originally wanted her dead to begin with.\\
'''Instead:''' Neither Alti nor Caesar suspect anything from Gabrielle and she goes free the next day.\\
'''The Result:''' Gabrielle uses her newfound knowledge to destroy the looms and the warped reality along with it.
* ''Series/Zoey101'': "Spring Break-Up": After the girls lose one of the events because Zoey didn't receive the combination, she discovers that her Techmate is missing. Then they find out that Chase took it (because he accidentally sent Zoey a message that he meant to send to Michael, and he really didn't want Zoey to see it. He had to delete it before she could). When the girls confront Chase, they claim he cheated, but he says that he didn't. Zoey tells him that if he just tells her why she took her Techmate, she will believe that he didn't cheat.\\
'''You'd expect:''' That Chase would just make up some lie, and say that she dropped it and was going to bring it back to her after the event was over, or something like that.\\
'''Instead:''' He refuses to tell her, leaving her and the other girls mad at him. [[spoiler: In the last event, when both teams are tied, he lets her team win out of guilt.]]
** In another episode, ''Paige at PCA'', Quinn attempts to test out a gravity chamber that she made. She asks Lola for her cell phone so she can test it out.\\
'''You'd expect:''' That Lola would refuse, caring for the safety of her phone, and ask Quinn if she has something she can use to test the chamber with herself.\\
'''Instead:''' She gives it to Quinn without hesitation, and as it is used in the chamber, it gets smushed, and makes a mess of silver glue-ish material on the table. Then, when Paige comes in later, she uses a magnetic device that works in the chamber with no problems.
** In "The Great Vince Blake", the girls decide to replace the vending machine snacks with a product called "Moon Bars" that are very healthy, but taste horrible. During this time, Quinn and Mark are working with cacti containing a delicious, low calorie, and addictive goo.\\
'''You'd Think:''' She wouldn't even bring up the goo, and think of a safe option.\\
'''Instead:''' She injects the Moon Bars with cactus goo and doesn't tell them the goo is addictive until the very end after students start going mad for them.
** In "Fake Roommate" the girls new RA is revealed to have stolen things from everyone's dorms.\\
'''You'd Think:''' She'd come up with a halfway convincing lie since she made no effort to hide what she stole such as she had found the stuff lying around and she didn't know where the lost and found was.\\
'''Instead:''' She claims she's on a reality show called "Take The Stuff" and when no one believes her she breaks down and reveals she's a kelptomaniac. Naturally she gets fired.
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* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch''
** "The Crucible": Sabrina's class visits Salem, where they are encouraged to reenact the Witch Trials. Libby accuses Jenny of pettily being a witch, and then accuses Sabrina when the latter tries to defend Jenny. The class plays along as an angry mob. Sabrina then has a FreakOut and asks her aunts to bail her out, since she can't lie on the stand. They tell her that she has to solve this problem on her own and leave her in Salem.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Sabrina to realize that the reenactments are just that: reenactments. No one is going to actually get hurt, or punished, because it isn't the 1600s. Also, she just accidentally released magic in anger and it was explained as a natural phenomenon, so it's unlikely anyone is going to believe it.\\
'''Instead''': Sabrina gives an honest, heartfelt confession on the stand, preparing to accept any consequences. Harvey defends her, albeit by going WrongGenreSavvy and saying Sabrina doesn't melt when wet or has warts.\\
'''The Result''': Mob psychology means that no one believes Sabrina is a witch, and instead they pretend Jenny is guilty. The program leaders tell Libby that they [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome aren't going to do anything to Jenny]] and just imagine that she was hanged. Of course, then Sabrina trolls Libby by conjuring a monkey that only she can see, which forces Libby to admit that she was making up the accusations. This exonerates Jenny and puts Libby in the stocks until the buses come.
** "To Tell A Mortal": Witches are allowed to tell their secrets to mortals for one day, only for the mortals to forget at midnight. As Zelda reveals in a flashback, she told one of her friends in a village that was anti-witch. They actually did have fun for a short while, since Zelda is a NiceGirl.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Said friend would have kept her mouth shut.\\
'''Instead''': The friend told the village, who in turn scapegoated Zelda and dunked her, blaming her for various mishaps.\\
'''The Result''': Even though everyone forgot by midnight, Zelda ended the friendship, and felt very traumatized by the dunking.
*** After her breakup with Harvey, Sabrina decides rather than attending college from home, she'll live like a normal freshman. The only problem? She applied too late to get any campus housing. Zelda and Hilda are worried about losing Sabrina and how she's growing up.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Zelda would tell Sabrina all about how much it costs to live outside the house in a normal apartment. We find out that Sabrina can't summon money with magic, though she can stretch it.\\
'''Instead''': They use ''very'' obvious magic to sabotage the apartments that she's visiting. When she calls them out, they try to say it was done out of love but she doesn't accept it. She then refuses to let them inside to the off-campus housing that opened up on the college waiting list.
** "Sabrina and the Candidate": At the coffeeshop, a local city councilman named Robert Russell is hosting a rally for his election. Hilda reveals she's jacked up coffee prices for the evening.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Russell, being a genuinely NiceGuy, wouldn't insult the coffeeshop owners supporting him. They ''are'' giving him space and free press.\\
'''Instead''': He makes a jibe about the coffee being overpriced.\\
'''The Result''': An irate Hilda runs against him. She also pressures Sabrina to find dirt on Russell, and Sabrina nearly derails Russell's campaign when she mistakes his making anonymous donations to poor families as him buying votes.
** Harvey and Sabrina were high school sweethearts who broke up after he found out she was a witch, had wiped his memory a few times, and cast spells on him without his consent. In fact, Sabrina's heart was broken so badly that it still has a crack when she visits it a few years later. During the same time period, Harvey realizes that he still loves Sabrina and has forgiven her for the whole casting spells on him. The problem is that she's decided to [[spoiler:marry one of her coworkers, DeadpanSnarker and JerkWithAHeartOfGold Aaron. On paper, Aaron is perfect for Sabrina because he is a perfect gentleman. Harvey can tell she really doesn't love him, however, because Sabrina is flitting around frantically with wedding jitters]].\\
'''You'd Expect''': Harvey would have a serious talk with Sabrina about all of this. Would it be a violation of etiquette to confess your love for your ex, whom ''you'' dumped even for a good reason? Yes? Is it better than what he actually does? Also yes.\\
'''Instead''': When Salem invites him [[spoiler:to Sabrina's engagement party, Harvey doesn't consider that the kitty was doing it to start drama. He shows up smugly, much to Aaron and Sabrina's discomfort. Aaron's parents are also there and scrutinizing Sabrina and her maids of honor with dislike.]]\\
'''The Result''': While Sabrina doesn't blame Harvey for her mixed feelings [[spoiler: and accidentally saying she loves him, she decides to work twice as hard to make sure her heart has a place for Aaron. Harvey only wins her back when he selflessly uses her magic to save Aaron when Aunt Irma turns the other man into a fish, as punishment for Sabrina lying to her about Aaron being a witch. Even so, it takes several episodes for Sabrina and Aaron to admit they aren't working out as a couple and break up at the wedding]].
* The one-off ''Santa Sent Me to the ER'' had two notable instances.
** Having gotten their fresh new pine tree home with her husband, Emily is eager to get it put up and decorated. Now, he’s going to be gone for a few hours and doesn’t want her to get up to anything crazy. Furthermore, the tree is higher than the ceiling in their living room!\\
'''You’d think:''' Emily would heed his advice and hold off on her impulse. There are even a few drops of blood on the ground to indicate that impatience is going to be costly.\\
'''Instead:''' Once her husband is gone, she doesn’t waste a second. While wrestling with the tree, she loses her balance, falls off the stool, and the tree comes crashing ''right down on her!'' And one of the needles goes ''right through her arm'' on top of that!
** Accompanied on the rooftop by his boozy brother-in-law, Charlie is dressed up as Santa Claus, getting ready to come down the chimney to the family house as a surprise for their kids.\\
'''You’d think:''' Charlie would discuss his plans with his wife so she would have ample warning to leave the fireplace clear for his passage.\\
'''Instead:''' The Mrs. has no clue what’s going on. Without knowing what her husband and brother are up to, she positions the fireplace poker upward — right in the path Charlie is going to take. Charlie loses his footing and lands butt-first ''right on the blade of the poker!'' ''''YEEEEEEOOOWWW!!!''''
* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': Many of the one-time and recurring skits are built around this premise – characters acting like complete idiots, driving the humor. Examples:
** "Celebrity Jeopardy!": As the recurring skit became popular, the writers developed the ongoing gag where the questions were made ridiculously easy that only a complete idiot would get them wrong (e.g., "The Beatles ''White Album'' is this color."), yet the contestants invariably answer incorrectly with off-the-wall responses. Category names would obviously hint at what the exact answer was (e.g., "The Number After 2"), but yet the contestants would come up with completely incorrect answers. Another example is host Alex Trebek (Will Farrell) asking, as the Final Jeopardy! clue, the contestants to write down either a name or simply any number ... and the answers are invariably wildly off-the-wall.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''
** Even the pilot has this. Elliott has established herself as a smart doctor who gets nervous and uses J.D.'s attraction of her to make herself look better during rounds. At one point, she gets annoyed when facing sexism, and a nurse named Carla notices. Carla tells her it gets easier.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Elliott with her smarts would have realized that rule one of being a doctor is ''never'' antagonize a nurse. especially one who is trying to help her. They are good at their jobs for a reason. J.D. is noticeably NiceToTheWaiter in the pilot because he's still scared of messing up procedures, and Carla affectionately calls him "Bambi" for this reason.\\
'''Instead''': When Carla is attempting to comfort her, Elliott references her wearing a thong and sleeping with Turk in the breakroom. She says "Word gets around fast." Elliott is not trying to be snide here, just self-righteous.\\
'''Predictably''': Carla gives her a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech and reveals that she knows Elliott is a social-climber trying to schmooze with Dr. Cox because word does travel fast. She warns Elliott that you don't build a career of throwing others under the bus or taking credit for their work. This makes the rest of the nurses hostile to Elliott for a while as well. For the rest of season one, Elliott tries to make up for her faux pas with Carla, who takes a long time to forgive her. Carla gives a similar speech to Katie in season 8, revealing it's not her first rodeo.
** "My Mentor" has Elliott tattling on Carla to Dr. Kelso about a procedure gone wrong. While she is right that Carla endangered her patient, the timing and context are absolutely off. J.D. knows that you do not cross the nurses since they are your backbone in the hospital, and Dr. Kelso tells Elliott to handle the problem when the whole crew starts freezing her out because he doesn't want to get involved in such petty politics. Elliott is also unaware that she has OpenMouthInsertFoot syndrome and has been insulting people left and right. J.D. makes her go to Carla and apologize because the rest of the nurses are freezing out Elliott and keeping her from doing her job. Carla accepts her apology, and J.D. tells Elliott problem solved and can we please move on? It seems that the situation has resolved before a commercial break.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Elliott would stop there, and save any venting for her therapist.\\
'''Instead''': She goes on a rant about all the things that Carla did was wrong with the procedure. Again, she may be right but the timing is super off and as an intern she is junior to a nurse who has worked there for eight years. To cap off how stupid this is, J.D. has an ImagineSpot of Elliott literally digging her own grave, with soil on her hands, and then lying down in it as he tosses a flower towards her.\\
'''The Result''': This makes the nurses even ''more'' hostile to Elliott, with Carla leading the vitriol. It gets to the point where maybe they laugh at her when she drops her lunch tray in the hospital cafeteria, if we believe J.D.'s ImagineSpot. Only then does Elliott shape up, apologizing by praising Carla in Dr. Kelso's presence. Then Turk convinces Carla to make up with her, and advising Elliott to keep her mouth shut.
** In an early season 1 episode, J.D. asks Dr. Cox to fill out a mandatory evaluation form that all interns need to be completed. Cox thinks that J.D. is too much of a people-pleaser and for every doctor, they are the only people who evaluate themselves.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Dr. Cox would sit J.D. down, and explain this to him.\\
'''Instead''': He carelessly tells J.D. he's busy, and goofs off watching basketball when not tending to his patients. Even worse, he says that J.D. can fill out his own form and Cox will just sign it.\\
'''Predictably''': J.D. tells him off for lying to him, and saying it's unethical for Dr. Cox to tell J.D. to do his own evaluation. It's only after he fills it out that Dr. Cox explains that J.D. has to evaluate himself every day that he works as a doctor because ultimately no one else's opinion matters, including Cox, Kelso, or the later chiefs of medicine. Cox admits to a group of hospital admin, however, that J.D. is a great doctor and he needs to stop caring about what others think.
** Dr. Cox asks J.D. to tape the birth of his friend's child and provides him with a tape recorder (already containing a tape) to do so.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' that the tape in the tape recorder would be the one Dr. Cox expected J.D. to use, since he didn't say anything to indicate otherwise.\\
'''Instead:''' ''After'' the baby has been born Dr. Cox reveals that he "punches out the tabs" on all of his tapes, so the one already in the recorder was unable to be taped over. This means that there is no video, despite J.D. attempting to take one.\\
'''The Cherry on Top:''' Dr. Cox berates J.D. for not automatically assuming that he should have gotten a fresh tape without any hint that he should do so, then fakes a tape for his friends with a baby that looks nothing like theirs.
** Dr. Kelso is a FauxAffablyEvil Chief of Medicine who bullies the interns to keep them in line, and will be petty about the tiniest of issues. Or so he wants people to think; the series reveals that Kelso acts like a big jerk because the hospital works better when everyone hates him. Some people, like Carla, even get a glimpse into his softer side.\\
'''You'd Expect''': People to eventually realize that Dr. Kelso acts this way to get people to do their jobs, so they should try to help out if they want him to be nicer.\\
'''Instead''': Almost as soon as any character finds out how hard Kelso works, AesopAmnesia kicks in with full force.
** In Season Two, Elliott starts a relationship with a NiceGuy nurse named Paul. Paul loves to cook, is mildly bossy, but adores Elliott. [[spoiler:Their relationship starts to founder when he says he loves her and Elliott says “I love U2” while looking at [=CDs=]. She’s not at the point where she can admit she loves Paul.]]\\
'''You’d Expect''': She would admit her mistake to Paul, and they work to repair the damage from her ppor choice of words.\\
'''Instead''': Elliott keeps her worries to herself, trying to cover up what she said. [[spoiler:She starts noticing Paul's more and thinks there is nothing to save. Then she takes Paul to the park for a breakup picnic and only explains it then.]]\\
'''The Result''': [[spoiler:Paul rightly chews her out for not communicating with him. This leaves them both hurt and their relationship in shambles.]]
** "My Advice To You": Dr. Cox notices that J.D. is leading the interns. He and Kelso disagree how to treat one patient. Dr. Cox tries to get J.D. on his side, which works because the young doctor likes him. Kelso schemes to reveal that Cox is only doing the opposite of what his superior suggests and doesn't actually trust J.D.'s leadership.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Dr. Cox would see through the ruse when Dr. Kelso calls out that J.D. is a good intern.\\
'''Instead''': He responds that J.D. is the worst, and ''Doug'' is the best, without skipping a beat, in J.D.'s presence.\\
'''The Result''': A disillusioned J.D. convinces the interns to go against Dr. Cox, and Kelso rubs it in Cox's face that he can't stop being an ass. Dr. Cox has to swallow his pride to hold back his usual mockery of J.D.'s effeminate side and explain his reasons for treating that particular patient.
** "My Screw Up": A big one from Jordan's brother and Perry's favorite person in the world, Ben Sullivan. Back in season one, he [[spoiler:received a diagnosis for leukemia, and entered remission after intense treatments]]. Ben figured that life was too short and decided to travel. Dr. Cox and Jordan are more than okay with this.\\
'''You'd Expect''': The man would remember to [[spoiler:get regular checkups and blood tests. His brother-in-law is a doctor and would recommend this to check for a resurge of cancer cells. Remission can be as short as a few months or as long as a few years]].\\
'''Instead''': During the two years that Ben spends traveling, [[spoiler:he refuses to see a doctor]]. He also doesn't tell Jordan or Dr. Cox about this.\\
'''The Result''': When Dr. Cox finds this out, shortly after Ben has returned to the States, he goes OhCrap while still smiling. He orders J.D. to give Ben a checkup immediately and doesn't care when J.D. says that he's swamped. [[spoiler:Before J.D. can get started, Ben dies of cardiac arrest, and it's revealed his cancer returned. While Dr. Cox blames J.D. initially, a hallucination of Ben points out to Perry what he already knew: Ben was the real idiot in the situation for not getting regular medical care, which he should have as a cancer survivor. Jordan becomes uncharacteristically withdrawn in the next episode, leaning on her obnoxious friends for support, and Dr. Cox feels helpless]].
** In Season Three, [[spoiler:Elliott starts dating marine trainer Sean again, and soon after J.D. rekindles his feelings for Elliott. Sean knows that J.D. likes Elliott but doesn't see him as a threat, even when he decides to fly to Hawaii and risk a long-distance relationship rather than outright break upw ith Elliott. Elliott then starts having doubts when Sean falls asleep while talking on the phone with her, and thinks she gets a love epiphany after J.D. covers clown doctor duties for her. J.D.is newly single after he briefly dated Jordan's sister Danni]].\\
'''You'd Expect''': [[spoiler:Elliott to remember that ''she'' wanted the long-distance relationship with Sean, when he was willing to make a clean break and spare them yanked heartstrings.]]\\
'''You'd Also Expect''': J.D. to remember how his last two hookups with Elliott went: terribly. And also you'd expect he would remember that he only started noticing Elliott again after realizing she was unavailable. Danni tells him as much.\\
'''Instead''': [[spoiler:Elliott surprises J.D. and they end up sleeping together. Soon after, Sean arrives on a flight to surprise Elliott with a visit. He narrowly misses catching Elliott cheating on him.]]\\
'''The Result''': [[spoiler:J.D. can't stand all these mixed messages from Elliott, even when he lies to a suspicious Sean, who wants to have her cake and eat it too. After a few episodes of hesitation, he manages to break up the couple up by declaring he loves Elliott. Only then he realizes he doesn't love her, and breaks up with her. Everyone ends up miserable and single by the end of the season, although later on Sean dates J.D.'s ex Kim and manages to find a happy ending.]]
** "My Big Bird"
*** J.D. is annoyed when his latest patient won't thank him for saving his life.\\
'''You'd Expect''': He would wait until he is free to look up the patient.\\
'''Instead''': He leaves while on call due to his pride. Then when Turk has to clock into work, [[ItMakesSenseInContext J.D. decides to stay behind to thank a garbageman]].\\
'''The Result''': He and Turk are put under investigation for Mr. Foster's death, since they were both supposed to be watching him.
*** Elliot's newest patient is a child, with a handsome father named Jimmy. Jimmy tells Elliot that his wife is "no longer with us" and flirts with her.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Elliot to remember that dating patients' family members never goes well. She saw how J.D. got into unhealthy relationships with Jamie and Danni because of it.\\
'''Instead''': She hooks up with the guy, much to Carla's disapproval. And it turns out Jimmy lied and his wife Millie is alive and well!\\
'''You'd Then Expect''': Elliot would talk to Millie about what happened, apologize, and explain Jimmy lied to her.\\
'''Instead''': She tells Jimmy that ''he'' needs to admit to Millie he cheated on her. Jimmy does, and paints a target on Elliot's back for Millie to hit. It also means he's a KarmaHoudini for cheating on his wife.
*** Following this, Millie has been chasing after Elliot all day and calling her a whore, and not giving her a chance to explain that her husband Jimmy lied to Elliot about his wife being dead. Even if she's understandably angry about being cheated on, she is posing a danger to Elliot and keeping her from doing her job.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Elliot would confront her after finding hospital security to back her up. That way if Millie still refuses to listen to reason that Elliot was lied to and used, then she can be escorted out and Elliot can check on her patients.\\
'''Instead''': Elliot confronts Millie alone, apologizing for what she did, and hoping they can both leave each other with their dignity. Millie then says she's going to punch her in the face. Elliot decides to throw down with her.\\
'''The Result''': Millie duct-tapes her to a wall with the sign, "Hi, I'm a whore!" Also, this makes Elliot partially responsible for Mr. Foster's death and put under investigation.
** “My Musical”: A woman named Ms. Miller collapses in the park. J.D. and Elliott happen to be in the area; they go check on her. Ms. Miller hears everyone singing, and she doesn’t understand why. Her medical tests reveal nothing so far that would explain the singing.\\
'''You’d Expect''': Dr. Cox to realize this would be a head-related trauma and to order more tests.\\
'''Instead''': He assumes she’s “crazy” and prepares to transfer her to the psych ward.\\
'''The Result''': Ms. Miller has to browbeat Dr. Cox into giving her an MRI, after doing him a favor and getting J.D. to stop talking. That’s when the radiologist finds [[spoiler:a large aneurysm in her temporal lobe, which requires immediate surgery. Dr. Cox looks really guilty when he has to tell Ms. Miller, though he assures her that she’s going to be okay]].
** During Season Six, J.D. is with the mother of his baby, Kim, who proceeds to [[spoiler:lie that she miscarried and breaks up with him. After going through HeroicBSOD about that and being functionally homeless, J.D. and Turk bust her for the lie when they see her speaking at a conference with a heavily-pregnant body. J.D. talks to Kim a little but really doesn't want to invite her back into his life. Turk explains it's because she broke his trust and J.D. is still hurt]].\\
'''You'd Expect''': Someone would suggest to J.D. to get marriage counseling with Kim. They need to work through it together since Kim has become TheAtoner about lying to him.\\
'''Instead''': They pretty much tell him to suck it up and humor her, blaming her decisions on pregnancy hormones.\\
'''The Result''': J.D. commits to [[spoiler:staying with Kim for the baby's sake, only to blurt out while she's in labor that he no longer loves her. They end their relationship while adoring their newborn boy and J.D. needs Dr. Cox to reassure him that he's not ruining his child's life]].
** A big one from Ed, one of the newest interns. He is BrilliantButLazy, and Dr. Cox pegs this. When they talk, Ed sincerely says that he's fine with coasting on his smarts since he's one of the best interns they have. He says that if that changes, Dr. Cox can tell him. The older man promises that he will come down hard on Ed. Sure enough, thanks to the other interns working their butts off, they surpass Ed and Dr. Cox notifies him.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Since Ed is established as smart, just unmotivated, that he would shape up and start reading. As far as we know, he's not diagnosed with ADHD or learning disabilities so that isn't an excuse. Ed also has done reading before.\\
'''Instead''': He keeps finding excuses to blow off work, and goofing off by taking unsupervised phone calls with his roommate. The attendings get annoyed on realizing he's starting trends among the others. Dr. Cox calls him out for reaching the point, and reminding him of their deal that Ed needs to catch up.\\
'''The Result''': For a few episodes, when Dr. Cox becomes the new Chief of Medicine, he takes it personally that Ed is not doing the work as an intern. He runs around frantically, and threatening him to study. When Dr. Cox loses patience, he fires Ed.
* ''Every single character'' on ''Series/TheSecretLifeOfTheAmericanTeenager'' is prone to at least one bout of this. For example:
** The "Ben wants to marry Amy" arc. There are a million reasons why this is an absolutely moronic idea, not the least of which is that they have zero chemistry together.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Amy or, really, ''anyone not Ben'' to see sense.\\
'''Instead:''' Amy, overcome by emotion, leans towards accepting the proposal. Ben's father doesn't see why two [[SarcasmMode very much in love]] teens can't marry, but Amy's father at least retains a level head.
* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' contained numerous instances of this.
** Example: George discovers that Elaine has a friend who knows Marisa Tomei and believes that George is just her type. Unfortunately, he is engaged to Susan.\\
'''You'd expect:''' George would break up with Susan, meet with Marisa, and they would start a glorious romance that would eventually lead to a happy marriage. (But this is Seinfeld after all.)\\
'''Instead:''' George has a secret meeting with Elaine and makes up a lie about her non-existent boyfriend (importer/exporter Art Vandelay) to cover up for the real reason he is going out: Marisa Tomei. Then when he does meet with her, he tells her that he is "sort of" engaged. She slaps him in the face and walks away infuriated. Even worse, Susan realizes the lie when she asks George what Art imports and exports, but the stories do not match.\\
'''You'd also expect:''' Susan would instantly call off the engagement realising George is a lying cheat.\\
'''Instead:''' She stays with him (after punching him in the face) [[spoiler: and is eventually killed by the toxins in the cheap envelopes picked out by George.]] Immediately afterwards, George calls Marisa Tomei, but she hangs up on him.
* ''Series/SesameStreet'':
** Fat Blue always get the short end of the stick with customer service. In one case, he goes to Uno Dos Pizza, wanting just a slice of pizza and a soda. The brothers running the place give him two slices and two sodas, as is fitting their bramd.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Fat Blue, on realizing the catch, asks for the price of the whole order, pays for it, and leaves. Leftover pizza and soda means extra stuff for lunch the next day. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?\\
'''Instead''': He keeps complaining, saying that only two of him can eat that much food.\\
'''The Result''': The brothers make a robot doppelganger. Fat Blue and the robot proceed to faint. Realizing he didn't pay and the food will go to waste, the brothers make quick work of the pizza.
** Pretty much every segment involving Buddy and Jim or Wally and Ralph were built on "What an Idiot!" moments. One example comes in a segment in which Buddy and Jim need to bring an ironing board into another room, but Buddy can't fit the ironing board through the doorway, because he's holding the board sideways.\\
'''You'd expect:''' He'd think to just turn it upwards so it would fit.\\
'''Instead:''' Well, actually, he does do that... Quite a bit throughout the sketch. He turns it upwards and then brings it in, but only to show what he did from the other side, and then brings it back the other room, doing this a few times.\\
'''So Now You'd Expect:''' Them to catch on, especially when it is in the other room.\\
'''Instead:''' They don't.\\
'''And then:''' They decide to saw the ironing board in half.\\
'''You'd expect:''' Then to cut sideways and to bring in separate halves.\\
'''Instead:''' They cut from the top, and continue holding both halves the same way.\\
'''And then:''' They decide to put small holes in the side of the wall to make the ironing board fit through.\\
'''But first:''' They each hold a different end, making it hard to get through.\\
'''But then:''' Buddy had Jim hold the ironing board from the middle, to which it would fit through.\\
'''And finally:''' Although this method works, Buddy holds Jim sideways as he holds the board, resulting in the ironing board getting through the way they should have done in the first place, while also allowing Jim's heads and feet to fit through the holes.
** In the special "Elmo Saves Christmas," Elmo frees Santa from his chimney when the latter gets stuck on Christmas Eve. Santa thanks Elmo and decides to offer him a special gift.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Santa's gifts would be simple but beautiful toys, thus offering no moral hazard.\\
'''Instead''': Santa offers Elmo either a magic snowglobe or a pink bear. Elmo chooses the bear, but changes his mind when Santa tells him the snowglobe grants three wishes, that act on a RealityWarper basis.\\
'''The Result''': Elmo uses his first wish for a glass of water, and then for ChristmasEveryDay. Santa realizes he messed up and visits Sesame Street to tell off Elmo for his foolishness. Since Elmo can't understand that permanent holidays are a bad thing in the long run, Santa has to send Elmo with a time-traveling reindeer to see the consequences. [[spoiler:For Elmo to fix things, he has to go back in time and make a different decision]].\\
'''To Make Matters Worse''': When the elves find out, they call out Santa for giving the snowglobe ''again'' as a gift, meaning similar events have happened before.
*** About one year into the future, Elmo and Lightning find that Christmas is desolate on Sesame Street and Santa is retiring, due to burnout. Elmo is horrified about the fact that the carolers have lost their voices, the Fix-It Shop is closed for good, Bird Bird is despondent knowing he'll never see Snuffy again, and the Count is tired of counting Christmases. Santa reminds Elmo that he has one more wish with the snowglobe, and Lightning suggests that he use it to fix things so that everyone isn't miserable.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Elmo would quickly make the wish of turning everything back to normal. Do it quietly, the way he wished for ChristmasEveryDay and watch the holidays return to their former cheer.\\
'''Instead''': He calls together everyone on Sesame Street to announce that this was all his fault because he thought he would make his friends and neighbors happy with his wish. Elmo also admits that if nothing had gone wrong, he would have spent his third wish on rollerblades. Which not useful except for Oscar the Grouch telling him to wish for that instead so that everyone will stay miserable.\\
'''The Result''': When Elmo breaks the snowglobe before he can make his third wish, everyone is understandably angry and disappointed in Elmo for creating this mess in the first place and giving them false hope in the second. Elmo and Lightning desperately go back in time to undo the bad timeline, where Elmo gets a different gift from Santa and promises to have learned from his mistakes.
** Several years later, Creator/MartinShort appeared as his character [[Series/{{SCTV}} Ed]] [[Series/SaturdayNightLive Grimley]] in a sketch with Creator/BillyCrystal as his friend Ricky, who has helped Ed get a shirt washed but now they need it to dry. After hanging the shirt on a rope that only one end of was tied to a tree, they decide that they need to tie the other end to something.\\
'''You'd expect:''' Them to tie it to the tree close enough to the tree that the other end is tied to.\\
'''Instead:''' Ricky ties the other end around Ed's waist. But since this prevents Ed from leaving to have lunch with Ricky, they decide to tie the rope to something else.\\
'''So now You'd expect:''' Ricky to untie the end tied around Ed and maybe figure out he can tie it to the other tree.\\
'''Instead:''' He unties the end that's tied to a tree and ties it around his waist, so the shirt can hang on the rope and they can both leave.
** Also a source of humor in various Twiddlebugs sketches. In one segment, the Twiddlebugs plan to go to the zoo, but since they are so small that walking there would take them three days, they consider other options, eventually figuring out that they can take the car to the zoo.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' One of the parents to drive the car and the others to ride it.\\
'''Instead:''' Each Twiddlebug lifts part of the car and they all carry it with them to the zoo.
** In another sketch, the Twiddlebugs are inside and want to go outside. Eventually, they realize they can use the door.\\
'''You'd expect:''' Them to open the door and leave.\\
'''Instead:''' They remove the door and successfully break the wall down with it.
** In one segment, Bert needs to buy groceries but has misplaced his key, so he asks Ernie to listen for him when he comes back. After Ernie turns down an opportunity to practice, Bert leaves but realizes that he forgot his money and needs back in, but when he knocks, Ernie thinks he is practicing. Eventually, after trying everything Bert can to get Ernie to hear that he's there, Ernie decides to open the door and compliment his practice.\\
'''You'd expect:''' For Bert to come right in to get his money, or to at least explain to Ernie that he needs to get money.\\
'''Instead:''' A worn-out Bert stays outside the apartment catching his breath, and then Ernie tells Bert that he's going to take a long bath and '''then''' be ready to answer the door when he's back, locking Bert out again (and still without his money).\\
'''And worse:''' Earlier, Bert had turned down Ernie's offer to let Bert borrow his key.
* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': In "[[Recap/SherlockS04E01TheSixThatchers The Six Thatchers]]", Sherlock has discovered the mastermind behind the plot and heads off to confront them, as does Mary. John has the good sense to contact Lestrade to bring in police backup.\\
'''You'd expect:''' For Lestrade to send an armed response unit. The mastermind is known to be heavily involved with a black ops team i.e. ''the sort of people who always carry guns and aren't afraid to use them.''\\
'''Instead:''' Lestrade shows up himself with a handful of officers, ''none of whom are armed.'' When the mastermind pulls a gun on Sherlock, the police are literally powerless to intervene, and Mary is killed taking the bullet for Sherlock.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': In ''Red'', Clark goes to patch things up with Lana due to his Red Kryptonite induced behavior. He states not being himself, with Lana assuming that his feelings for her weren't genuine.\\
'''You'd expect:''' For him to say he was on drugs. It would technically be true, and pretty much explain everything.\\
'''Instead''' Clark says that he can't explain his actions.
** In the season two finale of Smallville, Clark meets his biological father, through the A.I in the spaceship he came to earth in as a baby. Jor-El tries to force him to leave Smallville forever, so Clark tries to find the key to the spaceship to destroy it. He succeeds, but the energy wave from it turns over [[TearJerker the truck Jonathan and Martha are in, and causes Martha to miscarry the baby she thought she never could have.]] At the hospital, Jonathan tells Clark that it's his fault, and his actions have consequences.\\
'''You'd Expect''': That Clark would realize that A. This is all completely true and that he needs to own up to his actions and accept them, and B. His father is in extreme grief over the loss and probably will apologize or say something to amend the situation is some way.\\
'''Instead''': Clark accepts that this is his fault, but assumes that what essentially was an EXTREMELY unfortunate coincidence as a sign all he'll ever bring to anyone who cares about him is pain and misery, runs away from his friends and family (You know, the former willing to help him and the latter going to want to be with him in light of this tragedy) for what is presumably the rest of his life, and gets a RED KRYPTONITE ring to wear to numb his guilt and pain. In case you didn't know, Red Kryptonite lowers inhibitions; makes you act like your high. This bites EVERYONE in the ass, as Jonathan makes a deal with Jor-El to get powers in order to force Clark to come home, said deal involving giving Clark to Jor-El in order to "make him accept his destiny" (Read: Brainwash him into submission) and the powers put stress on Jonathan that leads to him having a fatal heart attack in Season 5.
** In ''Pariah'', Alicia Baker is suspect of attacking both Lana and Jason. Even Clark suspects her, so he talks to her after the second attack. Unknown to him, Alicia was locked in an interrogation room with the sheriff during the second attack, so she couldn't have done it.\\
'''You'd Expect''': That Alicia would at least tell Clark that she was in fact locked with the sheriff in during that second attack, thus taking away every trace of suspicion towards her.\\
'''Instead''': Alicia makes a demand that means that she and Clark will go to the sheriff and explain everything, but ''only'' if Clark agrees that he will tell about his powers to the sheriff. Naturally he can't do that, so he still suspects Alicia, only to later talk with the sheriff himself, only to find Alicia dead by the time he wanted to apologize to her.
** In ''Dichotic'', Clark has just knocked out a guy who he knows has the ability to be in two places at once. He knows the guy was going to fake Lana and Chloe's suicides. Clark rescues Chloe, but not Lana.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Clark to look immediately around for Lana.\\
'''Instead''': He stops to stare about the unconscious guy's body and only notices Lana when she screams.
** In "Precipice", Clark knows Lex is looking for a mentally unstable, violent man.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Clark to use is x-ray vision on the empty trains to find Lex.\\
'''Instead''': He wastes time looking around, resulting in Lex almost dying. ''Then'', after hearing Lex, he decides to use his x-ray vision.
** "Velocity", Clark learns that Pete has been street racing, and that street racers are using kryptonite as a substitute for nos. Pete ends up owing his mechanic a lot of money, and Clark makes a plan that involves Pete beating his mechanic in a race. Clark's plan also involves him using his heat vision to sabotage the mechanic's car. While doing this, he learns that the mechanic has rigged Pete's car to blow if it hits 100 mph.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Clark to go and tell Pete about this, so Pete could switch to using Lex's Porsche, since Clark can still help him cheat.\\
'''Instead''': He walks right in, confronts the guys, with kryptonite all over the place.\\
'''The result''': Clark is predictably weakened by the kryptonite, knocked out, and put into Pete's car.
** In "Sacred", Clark uses his super speed to steal the stone from Isobel's hand.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Clark to keep on running, since Isobel doesn't have super speed.\\
'''Instead''': He stops to look at it, then to look at Isobel, giving her enough time to blast him and take the stone.
%% * A standard SoapOpera trope. Fully half of their juicy plots would never have happened had the characters acted with any sense.
* ''{{Series/Spellbinder}}'': After [[TheHero Paul]] returns from the parallel world, he learns that Ashka, the villainious Spellbinder therefrom, has sneaked into his world and bamboozled Paul's scientist dad into upgrading some of the Spellbinder technology (wich Paul is relatively familiar with by that point), so that she could use it to take over her homeworld. Ashka is an otherwise perfectly normal-looking woman, and Paul already learned that his dad is adamantly unwilling to believe his stories about the parallel world.\\
'''You'd Expect''': that once his dad starts extolling on the "project" he's working on, Paul, who is usually a remarkably resourceful fellow, would interject and describe to his dad the details of the technology he's working on. Since it is extremely unlikely that Paul could learn about it in this world, his dad would have to at least entertain the possibility that his son might be telling the truth.\\
'''Instead''': He throws a temper tantrum, keeps babbling about the Spellbinders and screams at Ashka, giving his father an impression that he's simply jealous of her and not right in his head. As a result Paul is alienated from his father, the "project" continues, and Ashka gets herself a super-power suit.
* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' series finale: "Enemy at the Gates". The people at Atlantis find out that the Earth gate opens to the wraith ship attacking Earth.\\
'''You'd expect''': them to send through a gate buster nuke and "make that ship go away".\\
'''Instead''': they send through a team (I repeat, to a wraith ship swarming of life-sucking alien soldiers) on an extremely dangerous mission to overload the ZPM powering that ship.
** And speaking of that episode: in the show, as well as real life, there is a treaty that says Antarctica will never be used for military purposes. In the show, Antarctica is home to a heavily-armed abandoned outpost of the {{Precursors}}.\\
'''You'd Expect''': the outpost would be grandfathered into the treaty. This would keep it under multinational control, and everything safe under ridiculous amounts of ice.\\
'''Instead''': the SGC is forced to remove the control chair in compliance with the treaty. They then put it in Area 51, thus under exclusive US control, and ''in an above-ground bunker with no AA batteries''. When the Wraith do show up, all it takes is a kamikaze run by a couple of Darts to destroy the chair and disable Earth's last line of defense.
** In the same episode, John Sheppard is brought back to Earth from ''Another Galaxy'' to use the weapon's chair to defend the planet.\\
'''You'd expect''': That he'd be carted off and strapped into the chair the second he arrives so he can protect the planet and incidentally the chair itself using the impressive weapons it controls.\\
'''Instead''': He's allowed to clamber into a fighter plane to be shot at by Wraith Darts, while the chair is left unmanned and (as noted above) undefended by even conventional weapons in a shack in the Nivada desert.
* ''Series/StrangerThings'':
** In "The Body", after roughing up a state trooper named O'Bannon and uncovering what appears to be a conspiracy, Sheriff Hopper begins to suspect that there's more to the Will Byers story. He knocks out a state trooper, breaks into the morgue, and discovers that [[spoiler:Will's apparent corpse is actually a realistic looking dummy filled with cotton.]]\\
'''You'd Expect''': Armed with this undeniable evidence that things surrounding Will's disappearance are NOT what they seem, Hopper would show this evidence to the media, to the real coroner, anyone. If anything, the evidence could help unravel the conspiracy.\\
'''Instead''': He shows absolutely no one, tries to singlehandedly break into the Department of Energy facility, gets himself drugged and [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslit]], and loses the evidence.
** In "The Bite", the kids are at Hopper's cabin and see [[EldritchAbomination The Mind Flayer]] approaching in the distance.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' They would grab any useful supplies they can find and drive away to a more secure location before it arrives, so that they can figure out an actual strategy for fighting it.\\
'''Instead:''' They hole up and try to fight it head on, with only a small wooden cabin for fortification and a shotgun, an axe, and El's powers the only available weapons.\\
'''The Result:''' The Mind Flayer quickly destroys the cabin and bites El, injuring her badly enough to take her out of commission for the FinalBattle in the next episode and ultimately resulting in [[DePower the loss of her powers]], and she's barely able to hold it off long enough for them to just have to [[AllForNothing run away and regroup anyway.]]
* The climactic episode of season 2 of ''Series/{{Suits}}'' before the hiatus.
** During the partner's meeting about the subject of firing Harvey, Mike suddenly comes in and presents the file that ultimately dooms Hardman. It was a signed affidavit that says that Hardman did knew that a client's manufactured car did have a defect but under the supervision of Hardman, hides it.\\
'''You'd Then Expect:''' In a room full of lawyers that at least one of them would have actually taken the time of 3 seconds to confirm that it was indeed signed, especially Hardman.\\
'''Instead:''' Everyone just took Mike's word for it, even Hardman. Then it was later confirmed that [[spoiler: it was indeed signed, but not by the client but by Mike himself as he had even said that nobody actually does check those kinds of files.]]
* ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}'':
** "For The Girl Who Has Everything": Supergirl is incapacitated by the Black Mercy, so Martian Manhunter uses his shapeshifting powers to impersonate her.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Him to simply have her take a sick day, using the DEO to forge a note from a doctor if necessary.\\
'''Barring That''': Martian Manhunter would use his telepathic abilities to act in the way that Kara's friends and coworkers expect her to behave.\\
'''Instead''': He and Alex come up with a nonsense reason for why he has to go to Kara's job, where he's his usual grumpy self and winds up screwing up tasks and seriously jeopardizing Kara's job by needlessly antagonizing Cat Grant.
** "Reality Bytes": [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Transphobic jerk Gregory Bauer]] wants Dreamer to retire from being a superhero because she's transgender. Dreamer had just [[CurbStompBattle thrashed a Dominator with a little help from Supergirl, who softened him up]], and the footage had just gone viral.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Him to try to find some stealthy, subtle way to force Dreamer into retirement.\\
'''Barring That''': He'd at least avoid attacking other transgender people to try to force Dreamer into retirement.\\
'''Instead''': He lures Dreamer's roommmate into a romance using a fake online persona so he can attack her with the intent to force Dreamer into retirement. And he attacked the roommate because she claimed to be best friends with Dreamer! Naturally, this leads to him being confronted by a [[BewareTheNiceOnes very angry Dreamer]]. And when that happens:\\
'''You'd Expect''': Him [[CrazyPrepared to be prepared with a weapon that could hurt Dreamer, just in case he actually confronted her.]]\\
'''You'd Also Expect''': Him to realize that [[BullyingADragon calling her a twisted freak is only going to get him in a world of hurt.]]\\
'''Instead''': He is armed with only a pocket knife, and when Dreamer [[CurbStompBattle defeats him easily,]] he still [[TooDumbToLive thinks it's a great idea to provoke her.]] He only survives because Supergirl arrives to talk Dreamer down. [[VillainBall Maybe his bigotry affected his common sense.]]
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** "Nightshifter": It's a long story involving nutcases, mandroids, shapeshifters and hostage situations so let's just cut to the chase here, shall we? They're looking for the shifter, the police have got them surrounded, a guard has a heart attack and needs to leave, Sam is going to get the guard out while Dean is going to take out the shifter but then Ronald gets hit with a bullet and dies.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Them to carry on as normal. Dean can take out the shifter and Sam can let the guard out, seeing as how he's not the one wanted for almost every crime under the sun.\\
'''Instead''': Sam tells Dean to help the guard out while he goes after the shifter. Dean gets his face on the 11 O'Clock News, they're even more royally screwed to hell than they were before and, in the next episode, Sam/the show has the gall to blame Dean for all of it.
** In Season 8, Dean breaks out of Purgatory with a new friend, Benny the vampire, whom Sam immediately distrusts.\\
'''You'd expect''': Dean to tell Sam that he trusts Benny because Benny saved Cas' life. Sam knows [[HoYay just how important Cas is to Dean]], and Cas is his friend as well. Even though it probably still wouldn't get him to trust Benny, it would still get him to understand why Dean does.\\
'''Instead''': For ''no explained reason whatsoever,'' Dean dances around the question until it becomes a sore spot, and then a wedge, between him and Sam.
** In the Season 10 finale, Death wants Sam dead, and tells Dean to kill him.\\
'''You'd expect''': Death to trust Dean already has the tools to kill a regular human, or give him a gun or knife or any other mundane weapon, or just cut out the middleman and make Sam drop dead on the spot with a snap of his fingers.\\
'''Instead''': Death gives Dean his own scythe, perhaps the only weapon in existence capable of killing him, and stands conveniently within reach of Dean as he prepares to swing it, resulting in his extremely avoidable death.
* ''Series/TheTenthKingdom'':\\
** Everyone is trying to raise money at the casino in Kissing Town to buy the magic mirror at the auction so that Virginia and her father Tony can go home to New York, and Wolf wins more than enough money.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Wolf gives Virginia the money, making the woman he loves happy, maybe asking if he can come with her, OR he keeps entirely quiet about the money (give it away, put in in the bank, whatever) to make sure she has to stay in fairyland.\\
'''Instead''': Wolf tells Virginia and Tony that he lost all his money, and their offer of 5,000 gold pieces is outbid by the queen's huntsman. Wolf then obviously blows a fortune on his date with Virginia by renting a gorgeous tux, having music composed especially for her, giving her a romantic carriage ride with lots of flowers, renting an entire restaurant just for them, and giving her a magical singing engagement ring to propose marriage. When Virginia asks how he paid for all this, Wolf admits that he won 10,000 gold pieces the previous night, making Virginia understandably furious.
** Wolf. When she confronts him...\\
'''You'd Expect''': Wolf does his conman routine, lies through his teeth, and says that half of Kissing Town owes him favors.\\
'''Instead''': See above. The one time in the miniseries he doesn't even try to come up with a good lie.
** The main characters have the Huntsman temporarily indisposed through a series of lucky shots.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Them to at least think about finishing off a man who murdered hundreds of innocent people in cold blood. Or at the very least to take his magic crossbow.\\
'''Instead''': They simply run off, ensuring that he comes after them again as soon as he recovers.
* ''13: Fear Is Real'', "Alone": Adam is specifically told by Ted and Nasser that Erica is the killer, and from then on sticks to them like glue. When the group is taking showers, Adam realizes that the others are wearing boxers, and that he didn't bring any.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Adam to either shower nude, wait for Ted or Nasser to finish and go back to the room together, or at the very least try to sneak back to his room if he's going alone.\\
'''Instead''': He rushes up to his room as noisily as possible, alerting Erica to his presence and resulting in his getting "killed off."
* ''Series/{{Tales from the Crypt}}''
** In "Three's a Crowd", Richard's wife Della and best friend Alan are planning a party for Richard to tell him ([[spoiler: that they're going to be parents!]]) Sadly Richard thinks they're having an affair and this results in him snapping enough to kill them both.\\
'''You'd expect''': That Della or Alan would come clean and tell him ("You're going to be a father, we wanted to surprise you, please don't kill us!")\\
'''Instead''': They don't say anything, even when it's clear that he's going to kill them. Result? One of the saddest endings in the series.
* ''Series/{{Taxi}}'':
** Reverend Jim has to retake his driver's test.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Him to at least know the basics of driving since he does that for a living.\\
'''Instead''': He takes the written test, looks at the first question, and whispers "What does a yellow light mean?"\\
'''So''': Bobby whispers "Slow down."\\
'''You'd Expect''': Reverend Jim to recognize this is what a yellow light means.\\
'''Instead''': He repeats the question, only slower.\\
'''Then, You'd Expect''': Bobby to clarify his previous answer.\\
'''Instead''': He repeats "Slow down."\\
'''Result''': Reverend Jim repeats the question even more slowly.
* ''Series/{{Titus}}''
** Juanita, Titus's mom, is a psychopath (in the most literal sense of the word), but frequently gets out of mental hospitals, claiming that she's changed each time. Since Juanita has tried to kill Titus and his dad every time she gets out, Titus is naturally nervous about even being in the same room with her. The other characters frequently tell Titus to give his mom another chance, either because "it's your mother" or because it looks like Juanita really has reformed.\\
'''You'd expect''': That Titus would stick to his guns and stay hostile towards her, seeing as how she has a long history of violence, or at the very least, realize when Juanita is trying to sucker them into believing her story.\\
'''Instead''': Titus accepts that Juanita has changed for the better... only to be assaulted, drugged or abused by his mother. It's mentioned a few times on the show that this has been happening since Titus was born. And yet, ''he never learns.''
* ''Series/TopGear''
** During the Stretch Limos episode, the presenters are given the challenge of driving into a roadblock and getting away from it as quickly as possible, while the other two hosts shoot at their limo with paintball guns. Host James May has designed a limo that's essentially two cars joined at the rear, and can be driven at either end. Oh, and the other two hosts are Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond, and they're all rather fond of goofing about.\\
'''You'd Expect''': James to remember just who his co-presenters are, stay in his car and do a J-turn to escape, as the challenge instructions suggested.\\
'''Instead''': He gets out of the car, and tries to get into the other end and drive it from there. Predictably, Clarkson and Hammond shoot at him instead of the car, and one of them [[GroinAttack shoots him in his "gentleman's area"]]. And when he does get into his car, the steering wheel comes off seconds after he hits the gas, so he ends up driving into the grass.
** During the Hatchback episode, the presenters play "Supermarket Sweep" with their cars; i.e. they drive around a race track inside a supermarket with penalties for damage at a rate of 1£ = 1 sec. James realises the only way to win is to drive as carefully as possible, as even minor damage yields minutes of penalties; he hits a shelf and obliterates a can of SPAM, but is mostly clean. Jeremy Clarkson, being Jeremy Clarkson, drives as fast as he can, doing large amounts of damage. Then it's Richard's turn.\\
'''You'd Expect''': After watching the other two, Richard would realize that James had the right idea and should take it as slowly as possible.\\
'''Instead''': Richard tries to outdo Jeremy.\\
'''Result:''' He finishes the course on his side.
* The end of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "The Jeopardy Room" has two KGB agents, Vassiloff and Boris, roaming the room of a failed assassination plot via telephone bomb. While planning their next move, the phone rings.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That they would remember that the phone is rigged with a bomb that they themselves planted and not answer it.\\
'''Instead:''' [[TooDumbToLive Boris picks up the receiver]] and by the time Vassiloff tries to stop Boris, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard both are blown to bits]].
* ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy'':
** The series starts with Reginald Hargreeves adopting seven out of forty-three babies that were mysteriously conceived and born on the same day. He finds out that six out of these seven have superpowers and tries to make them into a hero team. Due to his emotional abuse, however, they all move out and leave after their brother Ben dies. Reginald wants to give his children a reason to reunite [[spoiler:and prevent the apocalypse]].\\
'''You'd Expect''': If he's lacks the capacity to apologize to them for what he did, such as locking up child-Klaus in a mausoleum to hear all the ghosts and lose his fear of them, he would [[spoiler:fake his kidnapping, if he's going to fake a crime and give them a reason to unite. That way he still can engage in XanatosSpeedChess]].\\
'''Instead''': [[spoiler:Reginald kills himself, and makes his death look like a murder. This means tampering with the android mother he built for the kids because Grace was programmed to interfere in medical emergencies.]]\\
'''The Result''': The kids notice Grace is malfunctioning, and suspect that [[spoiler:she might have killed their father by accident. Diego makes the decision to shut her down after she sews a cross-stitch through her hand and doesn't even notice]]. [[spoiler:What's worse, when they learn the truth about what Reginald did, they nearly split apart again, and the apocalypse happens because it turns out Vanya had powers all along and she snaps from her family's unintended emotional abuse, gaslighting from her vengeful boyfriend, and withdrawal from her meds]]. Nice going, Reginald.
** It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:Vanya ''did'' have powers, but Reginald convinced a child-Allison to make Vanya believe she was ordinary. Leonard learns this from Reginald's journals, which Klaus tossed in the trash]]. He's planning revenge.\\
'''You'd Expect''': The best revenge would be isolating Vanya from her family and stopping there. It would be much worse for Allison if she knew her sister was getting involved with a stalker and not doing anything about it. [[spoiler:She is dangerous, has never been able to control her powers]].\\
'''You'd Also Expect''': Telling the truth to Vanya would have the same effect; [[spoiler:if he shows her the notebook and reveals that Reginald lied to her and Allison Rumored her, saying that he noticed Klaus tossing away what looked like incriminating evidence. Vanya would also sympathize with Leonard's story, that he was humiliated by Reginald as a child]].\\
'''Instead''': He [[spoiler:washes away her meds and goads her to reawaken her powers so as to destroy her family]].\\
'''The Result''': [[spoiler:Vanya kills him when she realizes what he's doing]].
** Allison meanwhile has refused to use her powers after using them on [[spoiler:her child causes her husband to divorce her]]. She remembers what she did to [[spoiler:Vanya.]]\\
'''You'd Expect''': After their father dies and they have some time that Allison confesses to the entire family. That way if [[spoiler:Vanya]] freaks out, they can at least tackle it together and prevent her from hurting anyone. When the truth comes out, Klaus and Diego have a HeelRealization change their attitude because they know what it's like being the focus of their dad's emotional abuse.\\
'''Instead''': She keeps quiet until [[spoiler:trying to convince Vanya that Leonard/Harold is bad news and doesn't love her sister]].\\
'''The Result''': While Allison tries to weakly defend that she was just doing what their father ordered and she didn't know any better due to being four, [[spoiler:Vanya lashes out and slashes her throat by accident]].
** In Season Two, it's the 1960s. [[spoiler: Five made a DealWithTheDevil with the Handler, out of necessity in his mind when a past Reginald refuse to help them. He kills the board and lets her take over the Commission]]. She gives him a briefcase with an hour limit, [[spoiler:which will ostensibly return the Hargreeves to 2019]]. He goes to rally the siblings and tells Vanya there is no taking anyone from the past with them, though she says she wants to say goodbye to the family housing her. Five gets annoyed but lets her go.\\
'''You'd Expect''': He would follow her to make sure she does that. [[spoiler:Five knows that Vanya had previously caused the apocalypse and loves Sissy, the host's wife, and their son Harlan]].\\
'''Instead''': Five goes back to the alley to wait for everyone.\\
'''The Result''': Vanya convinces Sissy [[spoiler:either they go or Harlan will end up in an institution per Carl's blackmail. If Five were there, he could have transported out Vanya and quickly explained the situation to Sissy. Sissy makes the idiotic mistake of leaving a note for Carl, who uses his connection with the cops to set up a roadblock. Cue Vanya missing the time limit because she gets knocked out, arrested, and shipped to an FBI ability for demonstrating her powers]]. Oh, and this causes the world to nearly end again.
** Carl has found out that [[spoiler:the new amnesiac nanny has been kissing his wife]]. He has an offer: give her the car and a few hours to pack and leave, or he's sending Harlan to an institution.\\
'''You'd Expect''': He would sit them both down before Harlan's doctor appointment and tell them the ultimatum. It's only fair to Sissy that she knows the circumstances.\\
'''Instead''': He makes Vanya drive him to a ranch, where he likens lesbianism to foot-and-mouth disease in cattle. The only reason she doesn't run him over or kill him with her powers is that she is still amnesiac and in control of her emotions.\\
'''The Result''': After the disaster of a day, Sissy confronts Carl when he thinks he is entitled to sending Harlan to an institution and [[spoiler:getting Vanya arrested]] while assuming marriage counseling and a vacation will fix all of that. [[spoiler:She pulls a shotgun on him, and in the struggle their son, who received some of Vanya's powers, redirects a bullet that would have killed him into Carl]]. Your own stupidity killed you, man.
* In one episode of ''Unbeatable Bonzuke'', a contestant on Sponge Bridge makes it past the first zone with ease.\\
'''You'd expect''': For him to move right onto the next zone only failing if he falls off the boards.\\
'''Instead''': He celebrates by doing a backflip ''right off the platform disqualifying him!''
* One might get this feeling after [[OnceAnEpisode yet another accident involving a rodeo]] on the show ''Untamed & Uncut''. It makes another good (or possibly bad) idea for a drinking game. If one day, you find yourself watching an ''Untamed & Uncut'' marathon (or if it's simply many episodes in a row), take a drink every time an accident involving a rodeo comes up. Before you know it, you'll be as drunk as [[Myth/GreekMythology Dionysus]] [[UpToEleven on St. Patrick's Day]].

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[[folder:Live-Action TV M-R]]
* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' has more than its share of these, but a few examples stand out:
** In "The Negotiation", Michael is trying to get a raise. His review to determine whether he gets one and how much of one he gets is being conducted by Jan, who Michael is currently in a relationship with. Jan, knowing Michael, has already specifically told him not to bring up said relationship, as it won't be considered.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Considering Michael has a list about the length of his arm of ''completely legitimate'' reasons as to why he deserves a raise, he'd have the presence of mind to at least bring a few of them up.\\
'''Instead:''' His relationship with Jan is the first, last, and only argument he puts down in favor of his raise. IdiotHoudini works in his favor, though, as he manages to get a decent raise anyway.
** "Stress Relief" has a ''doozy'' of one for the inciting incident. Dwight is the appointed office safety inspector, and he notes that no one was paying attention to the meeting on orderly evacuations during a drill.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Dwight would consult the fire department on how to conduct a drill safety and remind his coworkers about procedures. They could set off the alarms and remind people to evacuate, in an orderly fashion. The whole point of a drill is so that people don't panic during a real emergency.\\
'''Instead''': He not only starts a fire, but locks the normal exits to remind people to use the emergency exits. (This is ''very'' dangerous, by the way in real life, and Dwight would have been terminated if not arrested for arson and endangerment.) When Stanley suffers a potentially fatal heart attack, Dwight shows NoSympathy while Michael displays WorstAid.\\
'''The Result''': MassOhCrap ensues. Rather than learning the procedure from Dwight, who is shouting instructions, everyone panics when they realizes that someone locked them inside and there is a real fire. They start trying to smash the windows and go through the vents. To top it all off, when the CEO David Wallace finds out, OOCIsSeriousBusiness is in effect. He tells off Dwight for reckless activity that could have gotten someone killed and nearly did, and Michael strips him of his safety officer position.
** While taking over as safety officer, Michael actually has a good idea: teach a course on CPR. The training dummy comes with an instructor named Rose, who is quite reasonable. When Michael applies chest compressions to the dummy too fast, Rose advises that using the chorus of "Stayin' Alive" is a good trick to press at 100 beats per minute. Unfortunately, just as it seems Michael is getting the hang of it, the whole group gets derailed by singing the rest of the song, and he joins in; Rose has to point out that by stopping the chest compressions and no one calling 911 means that the "person" is dead.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Dwight is already on thin ice for the fire incident and nearly killing Stanley. He should stand back and let the actual, certified and competent instructor explain what to do when your CPR victim's heart stops and isn't resuscitated.\\
'''Instead''': He pulls out a knife and declares they need to harvest the body for organs. Cue MassOhCrap (again) from his coworkers and Rose, who futilely tries to point out that it's not what you're supposed to do. Then he proceeds to wear the dummy mask on his face.\\
'''The Result''': Once again David Wallace calls him out for several reasons. One is that Dwight derailed the course that was teaching a legitimate life-saving procedure. Two is that the training dummy was worth over five thousand dollars, and that will be coming out of Dwight's paycheck. Three is that he is traumatizing his coworkers for the sake of his ego.
** To avoid getting fired, Dwight has to receive a signature of forgiveness from everyone in the office in response to a statement of regret. Michael is willing to let off Dwight with a warning, but David Wallace says that's not happening.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Michael would, if he does care about Dwight not getting fired, work with him on the statement of regret. He's an idiot but an idiot with a big heart, and knows how to show that he is truly sorry about things. In fact, his attempts to make amends for causing stress that nearly killed Stanley forms the second part of "Stress Relief".\\
'''Alternatively''': Dwight would swallow his pride and ask for Michael to save his butt and help him draft a statement. This is his job on the line, and the CEO has his number.\\
'''Instead''': All Dwight does is draft one line -- "This is my statement of regret"--  and announces it to the office.\\
'''Predictably''': No one wants to sign since he is a jerk and nearly got them killed via smoke suffocation. He ends up having to trick them to save his job, but they still hate his guts. 
** In "Survivor Man", Michael's ZanyScheme [[MonsterOfTheWeek of the week]] leaves Jim in charge of the office for the day. Someone's birthday is that day, and since it's during a month in which several other characters celebrate their birthday as well, Jim gets the idea to celebrate them all on the same day for efficiency's sake. No one else in the office is fond of the plan.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' When Jim is going around to ask what people think of the idea, they'd, y'know, ''tell him''. Even if they're somehow worried about being singled out, it quickly becomes clear that most of the people in the office are aware of all of the other characters who don't like the idea either; it wouldn't be hard to go to Jim as a group to voice their concerns.\\
'''Instead:''' They act as if they like the plan whenever Jim is around, while behind his back they sit around impotently grumbling about how Jim's "gone mad with power" despite the fact that, not only has no one done anything to suggest that the plan is disliked while Jim is around to notice, ''they actively hide that bit of information from him''. By the time Jim has overheard enough bits and pieces of their whining to realize what's going on, it's already the end of the day, forcing Jim to scramble to arrange the birthday that's supposed to be celebrated that day.

* ''Series/OneTreeHill''
** In the final few months before graduation, Brooke finds out that she's failing Calculus & that if she doesn't get her grades up, she won't be graduating with her friends.\\
'''You'd Think:''' That with Haley working for the school as a tutor, Brooke would ask her for help in getting her grades up.\\
'''Instead:''' She goes along with Rachel's idea to outright steal the exams, which would result in her getting expelled if she was caught.
** During the fourth season, Lucas & Peyton finally became a couple & end the season very much in love. When the show came back for it's fifth season, a TimeSkip of 4 years had taken place, and it was revealed that they broke up several years earlier. The episode "[[WholeEpisodeFlashback I Forgot To Remember To Forget]]" reveals that the break-up happened because Lucas flew to Los Angeles to propose, and Peyton asked him to wait a year.\\
'''You'd Think:''' That Lucas would explain he's not asking her to fly to Vegas to get married the next day & he's willing to wait as long as she needs before they actually get married, he just doesn't see the point in putting off the inevitable.\\
'''Instead:''' Lucas takes Peyton's request to wait a year as an outright refusal, and breaks up with her by leaving her alone in their hotel room.\\
'''As A Result:''' When they finally see each other again after three years, he's in a relationship with another woman who winds up leaving him at the altar after she realises that Lucas is still in love with Peyton.\\
'''Ironically:''' A year after the breakup, Lucas invites Peyton to his book signing in L.A. in attempt to fix the relationship - except upon arriving, Peyton misinterprets a platonic kiss on the cheek from Lucas’ editor as a sign that he moved on so she leaves the signing before Lucas spots her, which results in Lucas thinking that Peyton’s absence is a sign that she moved on.
* ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'':
** In "[[Recap/OnlyFoolsAndHorsesS3E05MayTheForceBeWithYou May the Force Be With You]]", the Trotters get arrested by Del Boy's former childhood friend and long-standing rival, Roy Slater, for possession of a stolen microwave. While at the police station, Del tries offering Slater £50 to let them go. Slater, probably not wanting this long-awaited arrest to be even easier than Del is already making it, says "I didn't hear that," in a manner clearly hinting to Del that he should shut up.\\
'''You'd Expect''': That Del would take the hint and not hand over even more reason for this notoriously CorruptCop to toss him in jail.\\
'''Instead''': He takes Slater literally and loudly repeats his offer for all -- including Slater's sergeant, Hoskins -- to hear, resulting in him ending up with "attempting to bribe a police officer" added to his already-lengthy rap sheet.
** Later on, Del strikes a deal with Slater to be given immunity from prosecution in exchange for giving up the identity of who he purchased the stolen microwave from.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Slater to keep Hoskins around as a witness in case Del attempts anything shifty. Part of the reason why Slater views Del as a WorthyRival is that Del's as slippery as Slater is corrupt, after all.\\
'''Instead''': He sends Hoskins out to have a tea break -- [[KickTheDog five minutes after the canteen closes]] -- then gets Del to sign the immunity form, only for Del to falsely incriminate ''himself'' as the microwave's thief. Had Hoskins been around then he could have testified that Del had a conversation with Rodney immediately beforehand that indicated Del was clearly not the true thief, which would have voided the immunity agreement, but with Slater himself as the only witness, no court would ever believe he wasn't just reneging on the deal ForTheEvulz.
* ''Series/OperationRepo:'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPDj9dgyLng You are driving a hook and chain tow truck that has an expensive BMW on the back with a cameraman inside.]] You have to pee badly, and drive faster than usual. Your partner suggests you slow down to prevent an overturn. You nearly have an accident when you run a stop sign. Your partner repeats his suggestion more vehemently.\\
'''You'd Think:''' You slow down, and/or maybe find a [=McDonald's=] to pee in.\\
'''Instead:''' You keep going too fast. The car flips going round a corner, is totaled, the cameraman narrowly avoids death, and you get fired. [[UltimateJobSecurity Temporarily]].
* ''Series/PeakyBlinders'' Tommy has some IRA members who know that he has the guns after him, because they suspect the Peaky Blinders killed a member of theirs in Birmingham. They basically blackmail him into meeting him alone at The Garrison to hand them over. Tommy knows this is a trap, so he pretends to go along with it, calls the police to let them know the IRA members will be there at 6pm so that they will arrest/kill the IRA and the Peaky Blinders won't be connected to their deaths, but he needs more backup. Unfortunately, his family are angry with him for driving away Ada, so they aren't speaking to him.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Tommy tells his family what's going on, because no matter how mad they are at him, they aren't going to want him ''dead'' and all of them are experienced with firearms. Also he makes sure that the police will arrive by the appointed time, since he isn't exactly on great terms with the law enforcement.\\
'''Instead:''' Tommy trusts ''[[BitchInSheepsClothing Grace]]'', of all people, a barmaid he knows next to nothing about except that she's lied to him twice about her true origins and allegiances, but he still gives her a gun and tells her some men are coming to kill him and he needs her to hold them off until the police arrive. (And she's the one who killed the first IRA member.) When the men show up, Grace instead shoots one of them in her own revenge scheme, the police don't show up on time because they hope Tommy and the IRA members will kill each other and Tommy ends up beating the other man to death instead of letting the police kill him, so now the IRA have even more reason to come after the Peaky Blinders.\\
'''Also:''' Instead of confronting Grace over disobeying his orders, she [[CrocodileTears cries]] about how "She didn't know she had it in her like that" and Tommy comforts her instead, not thinking to question why a simple barmaid knows so much about firearms and they later have sex and Grace is allowed to continue her work as TheMole even though Tommy should have suspected something fishy about her long ago.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''
** Bad things happened, and now the Machine's code is compressed into Harold Finch's briefcase computer. It will need a server farm to supply the necessary hard drive space and computing power needed to decompress the Machine back into its normal operating form. Fortunately, the protagonists of the show have found themselves in a warehouse filled with high-end computer hardware for them to take advantage of.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Our heroes to take one of the many pallets shown in the background stacked high with Mac Pro computers. These are the "power" Mac units that boasted 8- to 16-core Intel processers, huge hard drives, and tons of RAM making them ideal for building a server farm for the Machine.\\
'''Instead:''' They go right for the warehouse's supply of [=PlayStation 3=] consoles. Game consoles of that generation were inferior in spec to ''just about everything else in the warehouse''. To make matters worse, the original-model [=PS3=] used in the show was as terrible at managing heat as the competing original-model [=Xbox 360=], and so was prone to heat-related hardware failures of its own at the time this episode aired.\\
'''Result:''' They build their [=PS3=] server farm and get the Machine decompressing...and then have to scramble to douse it in liquid nitrogen to cool it when the consoles start bursting into flames and melting down mid-process. They chose their ProductPlacement poorly.
* ''Series/Preacher2016''
** Jesse learns that The Saint is now susceptible to his [[CompellingVoice The Word]] after giving The Saint 1% of his soul. Jesse refuses to send The Saint to Heaven believing he doesn't deserve happiness (breaking his deal with The Saint) but won't send him to Hell because he has part of Jesse's soul.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Jesse to order The Saint to be his faithful servant. Having a superhuman killing machine on your side while searching for God can only be an asset.\\
'''Or''': Order The Saint to never try to kill Jesse and his friends ever again and then make him go away.\\
'''Instead''': Jesse locks The Saint in an armored car and sinks him in a swamp. The Grail find him and release him. Now the superhuman killing machine is very angry for being betrayed and seeks out Jesse and his friends. It's only because the agents of Hell arrive and take The Saint back that Jesse and his friends manage to survive.
* In a first season episode of ''Series/PrisonBreak'', the lawyers try to figure out what to do next now that the execution's been given a two-week stay. Burrow's son LJ, who's understandably a bit cranky, what with his mother being murdered in front of him and him being chased by the police for a double homicide he didn't commit, declares that trying to work within the legal system is a waste of time. The lawyers tell him that the legal system the only way that's going to work. They then get the idea to go back to the cabin where they left Quinn to try and recover info. Upon arrival, they lower LJ into Quinn's well with a rope to get Quinn's cell phone. LJ sees that Quinn scrawled out a name on the wall.\\
'''You'd Expect''': LJ to realize that the lawyers aren't being goody-two-shoes. This is an insanely elaborate conspiracy they're dealing with, one which only stopped trying to kidnap or kill the lawyers and LJ when they went public. The name of one of the people who's been chasing them would be ''insanely'' helpful for figuring out who's in on the conspiracy, especially since the conspirators don't know they have it.\\
'''Instead''': LJ doesn't tell them the name, grabs a gun from the cabin, finds the guy on the Internet, breaks into his house, and tries to kill him. Where to even start with how stupid this is...will killing this guy going to magically put a stop to Burrow's execution and shut down the conspiracy? Will it clear LJ of double homicide? Not really, no- seeing as how now he'd be an ''actual'' murderer on top of a framed one. Oh, and remember how if the lawyers had the name they could investigate and trace him to figure out who he's meeting with? Well that plan's toast, now that the conspiracy knows they're on to him. Come on, LJ. It was a long car ride back from the cabin. How the heck do you fail, so epically, to realize the colossal failures inherent in your plan when you have hours to think about it?
* ''Series/ThePunisher2017'': Madani and her DHS team have been ambushed by a mysterious, highly trained mercenary unit. The DHS team suffers heavy losses, but kills most of them. Sam manages to get the drop on the last one and has him on his knees with his hands behind his head.\\
'''You'd expect:''' Sam, who is no rookie, 1) has him lie face down on the ground with his arms and legs spread, 2) stays a safe distance away with his weapon trained on the merc, and 3) waits for backup. This is standard procedure for disarming an armed and dangerous foe, in any law enforcement agency in the world. Precisely to avoid what happens next.\\
'''Instead:''' Sam approaches him and attempts to disarm and unmask him by himself. It turns out to be Billy Russo, who dispatches Sam with his hidden BladeBelowTheShoulder as soon as he gets close enough.
* ''Series/TheQueensGambit'': The Methuen Home where Beth grows up gives its orphans a daily tranquilizer "to even their temperaments". Eventually the government makes it illegal to give the drug to children, forcing the orphanage to stop administering them and resulting in all the orphans GoingColdTurkey and suffering withdrawal.\\
'''You'd expect:''' The orphanage to remove the pills from the premises, or at least lock them up out of sight. Addiction wasn't as well understood in TheFifties, but they should at least know when you cut off a junkie's supply you need to hide the drugs.\\
'''Instead:''' They leave the pills in a [[TemptingCookieJar giant glass jar in plain sight]], where the orphans see them every day when they get their daily vitamins.\\
'''The Result:''' Beth, being 9 years old, addicted, and thus having no self control, becomes desperate enough to break into the office and stuff her mouth with handfuls of pills, resulting in an OD.\\
'''Even Worse:''' ''Beth'' is the one punished for this, being forbidden from playing chess for the remainder of her time at Methuen.
* ''Series/RedDwarf'':
** The event that kicks the entire series off -- which is lampshaded in the episode "Justice" -- comes when the ship's drive plate turns out to be dangerously faulty, and in need of repair to prevent it from exploding.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' The job to be given to the best engineer aboard the vessel.\\
'''Instead:''' It's given to Arnold Rimmer, the ''lowest''-ranking officer on the entire ship (not counting Dave Lister, who is in stasis for breaching regulations on bringing pets on-board). He naturally screws the job up, and the drive plate explodes, causing a radiation blast which instantly kills the entire crew.
** In the episode "The Inquisitor", the titular villain -- whose MO is erasing unworthy people from history and replacing them with alternative versions -- removes Kryten and Lister from the timeline, but a series of events lead to him going on a rampage and killing Kryten's and Lister's replacements, then Cat and Rimmer, and finally Kryten. Lister, by now the sole survivor, threatens to drop the Inquisitor off a ledge but then saves him, saying that if he erases Lister from history he won't be there to save him.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' The Inquisitor to point out that he's ''already'' erased Lister from history and doesn't need to do it again, then just vaporize him, since we've seen him do that to people without removing them from the timeline.\\
'''Instead:''' He points out that Lister's threat is empty since he was the one who put him in danger to begin with (which ''is'' technically true), then tries to re-erase Lister... and in doing so, erases ''himself'' from history thanks to Kryten sabotaging his time gauntlet, undoing all of his work.
* ''Series/RobinHood'':
** "Brothers in Arms": Guy of Gisborne confiscates a necklace from a woman so that he has a gift for Marian. Robin Hood tells Marian about its origin.\\
'''You'd expect''': Marian to return the necklace to its owner herself, and tell Guy that she does not accept stolen gifts.\\
'''Instead''': Marian gives the necklace to Robin, who returns it to its owner. Predictably, Sir Guy finds out and starts suspecting that Marian spies for Robin Hood. This starts the chain of events which ends with Marian being forced to promise to marry Guy, to dispel the suspicion.
** In the third series Robin meets Isabella, likes what he sees, implicitly trusts her, and starts up a sudden romantic relationship with her despite the fact that she's the sister of the man who killed [[spoiler: his wife.]]\\
'''You'd expect''': Robin to at least ''try'' and remember [[spoiler: his dead wife]] and the possibility that the sister of the man who murdered her might be just as untrustworthy, dangerous, and unhinged as her brother.\\
'''Instead''': He doesn't, and she [[spoiler:kills him.]]
** [[CreatorsPet Kate's]] introductory episode involves her attempting to save her brother's life by a) trying to move him in a conspicuous cart during the middle of enforced conscription instead of just hiding him in the house, b) screeching "there's nothing there, there's nothing there!" when Guy investigates the suspicious sight of a woman talking to what's meant to be an empty cart, c) sabotaging the outlaws' ambush to free her brother by rushing in and attacking the guards prematurely without even a weapon to defend herself with, d) abandoning the outlaws and sneaking into the castle by herself with no clear plan on what she intends to do, e) forgetting to take out the distinctive braid across her forehead that makes her instantly recognisable to Guy of Gisborne who orders her restrained, f) trying to cut a deal with Guy by revealing to him that Robin, the man who would have saved both her brother ''and'' the rest of the prisoners had Kate just ''let him'', is hiding amongst the prisoners, and g) flailing helplessly when Guy ends up killing her brother when he rushes to her defense, mistakenly believing that Kate is being threatened by Guy.\\
'''You'd expect''': Kate to learn a valuable lesson about the importance of patience, timing, competence, discretion, silence, and letting the professionals do their job without interference. Or, if she ''does'' really want to help, at least try to make herself useful to the group by training, learning other skills, etc.\\
'''Instead''': The next time a tax-collector comes to Locksley, she loudly and aggressively insults him in front of a large crowd of people, resulting in the destruction of her family's pottery business, her own capture and near-rape, and the audience being subjected to her presence for the rest of the series when the outlaws rescue her and then inexplicably invite her to join the team despite the fact that she's ''completely useless.''\\
'''Furthermore''': Why on earth did the outlaws want her on the team in the first place? All she ever did was bitch and moan at them, and act impossibly ungrateful whenever they went out of their way to save her life.
* ''Series/Roots1977'':
** In the penultimate episode, one slave character discovers a thief in a food storage shed who messed the place up and runs off when discovered.\\
'''You'd expect''': "Virgil" to go to his masters and tell them about the thief to minimize the risk of being beaten when the thief runs off.\\
'''Instead''': Virgil nonchalantly tries to clean up the mess whereupon his masters come across the scene seconds later. They don't believe him when he tells them about the thief and he is promptly used as a punching bag by his handlers.
* Usually in the UK stand-up show ''Russell Howards Good News'', Russell makes fun of idiots. This time he manages to screw up completely during his usual 'Guest' segment he is being given directions on how to stage a fake fight. During all this he is shown a small stool which he is told is breakable and is to be hit on the stunt-man's back.\\
'''You'd Expect''' Russell to listen and work the scene as intended.\\
'''Instead''' Russell, right before the scene is about to begin, decides to do a push up ''on the stool'', causing it to collapse, with him breaking a couple of fingers in the process.
* ''Series/RoyalPains'': In the fourth season, Hank is happily dating another doctor named Harper Cummings, who has had issues with dating doctors because of the hectic work schedules, but made an exception for Hank. In the season finale, Hank is discussing a medical case with Harper as they're preparing to leave for her family reunion. Before they board a boat to Rhode Island, Hank realizes that he may have misdiagnosed his patient, and the patient could be in danger.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Hank to call Dr. Sacani, who is still on call, to go check on the patient. In fact, the patient is a volleyball player at a tournament where [=HankMed=] is already the onsite medical care, so Dr. Sacani would be ''right there anyway''. Plus, Dr. Sacani helped Hank treat the patient before, so he's well aware of her symptoms and history.\\
'''Instead:''' Hank abandons Harper, calls Dr. Sacani to meet him, and both of them check on the patient. The patient is fine. Not surprisingly, Harper breaks up with Hank when he calls to tell her.
* ''Series/RupaulsDragRace'': The "Snatch Game" is a OnceASeason challenge where the contestants must imitate a celebrity and perform their best improvisational comedy. In [[ForeignRemake UK Season 1]], contestant Sum Ting Wong is torn between doing TV chef Creator/NigellaLawson or naturalist Creator/DavidAttenborough.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Sum Ting to go with Lawson since she's best known for her sex appeal and food-based innuendos, meaning the jokes would practically write themselves in a challenge like this. Considering improv isn't Sum Ting's usual forte, you'd think she'd ''want'' an "easy" celeb to impersonate.\\
'''Instead:''' She goes with the man best known for narrating nature documentaries. And while Sum Ting's age makeup is impressive, she predictably fails at making him funny, leading to her elimination. Some celebrities just don't lend themselves to parody as easily as others. What makes this worse is that she asked a few other contestants for advice and they ''convinced'' her to do Attenborough; one can't help but wonder if they deliberately played her by steering her away from Lawson.\\
[[/folder]]

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